Who were the black players you watched growing up?
"My first original favorite player was Jarome Iginla. Just because he was playing at the time and he was someone stylistically, that's someone I'd like to play like. So that was awesome. Also, someone like Tony McKegney, he was a great goal scorer."
You've had a charity ball hockey event, Wayne's Road Hockey Warrior, for underprivileged and underserved boys and girls ages 5-9 for a few years where you grew up, in Scarborough, Ontario. How important has it been for you to give back to minority kids the way the previous generation did for you?
"It's been huge. We didn't do it last year, would have been our seventh year, because I got married, had a pretty full plate over the summer. But just hearing and even seeing kids, since that time back six years ago, seven years ago, kids have started playing junior, have graduated to the Ontario Hockey League and stuff like that, it's amazing, just the impact you have. The way I do it back home it's not only for black players, it's for anyone underprivileged, anyone who doesn't necessarily always get the chance to play hockey, come out and play some ball hockey and be a part of something bigger. I always see parents around after the fact, they tell me how much I've impacted their kids. It's pretty heartwarming, pretty special.
"I got this whole idea through (former NHL goalie and current NHL Network analyst) Kevin Weekes because I attended his hockey school when I was younger. I always had that memory in my mind, it always stuck with me, resonated with me. As I got older I said why not try to do something like what Weekes did. My program, any time we have it, we have kids who have graduated, who can't play anymore and now they're counselors. Those kids want to pay it back. ... We had a ton more kids the summer before that came back that had participated as players and came back to help out and counsel the kids."