© Zachary Hamlet

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles the Hockey Players of Color Movement Summer Camp, held July 26-28 at Invisalign Arena, the Carolina Hurricanes’ practice facility.

Sergio Becom was exhausted but exhilarated from serving as a counselor at the recent Hockey Players of Color (HPOC) Movement Summer Camp in Morrisville, North Carolina, after being a camper last year.

“Just seeing all those kids coming from different ethnicities and just being at a camp and getting exposure that they normally wouldn’t is just awesome to see,” said Becom, a 15-year-old forward for the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes Under-16 AA team.

Nearly 50 players from across North and South Carolina, the rest of the United States and Canada attended the July 26-28 camp at Invisalign Arena, the Hurricanes’ practice facility.

It was hosted by HPOC (Hockey Players of Color) Movement, a nonprofit organization founded in 2020 to highlight and nurture players of color in hopes of making the sport more diverse, and the Hurricanes and Carolina Amateur Hockey Association, with support from USA Hockey.

The aim of the camp, in its second year, is to expose more kids of color in the Carolinas and beyond to hockey through a weekend of on-ice and off-ice activities.

“It just brings a lot of people together and celebrates that there are a lot of (players of color) in hockey, said Grant Vallier, a 13-year-old forward from Charlotte.

© Zachary Hamlet

When players weren’t practicing or scrimmaging on the Invisalign ice, they were doing off-ice conditioning, playing ball hockey or soccer or listening to discussions about pathways in hockey.

“There are so many options in hockey where they can go to prep school that they don’t have to play on a AAA team to get to where they want to be,” HPOC Movement founder and CEO Jazmine Miley said. “If their dream is the NHL, that is totally fine, but there are so many other roads to play professionally that a lot of kids and parents don’t see because we’re taught that the NHL is the only way to go.”

Campers watched “Soul on Ice: Past, Present and Future” and “Ice Queens,” hockey documentaries directed by Canadian filmmaker Kwame Damon Mason, whose son, Hendrix, attended the weekend camp.

They were also treated to a visit from Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield, who signed a three-year, $9 million contract (average annual value $3 million) on June 14 to remain in Carolina. 

“I think no matter what color you are, just seeing somebody who does what you love to do … seeing somebody come out (who) plays at the highest level, that is motivating for them,” Chatfield said.

Miley said the concept of the camp started with Brad Hoffman, a former CAHA board member who also chaired its diversity, equity and inclusion committee.

“We’re a predominantly white male sport,” Hoffman said. “I think there’s a need to diversify our sport and to try to do some things differently.

“I think it begins at the top in terms of, you’ve got to be visible, and I think your deeds and the things that you do have to be meaningful, and then you have to follow through.”

Hoffman reached out to Miley, who he learned about from HPOC Movement participating in the Amerigol LATAM Cup, and spoke with Stephanie Jackson, USA Hockey’s director of diversity and inclusion, about doing something in the Raleigh area.

“And really the rest is history,” Jackson said. “We at USA Hockey curated this between HPOC Movement and the affiliate. Because we curated it, it was only natural that we said, ‘We’ll put up the majority of the money for this.’

“When we had the inaugural weekend last year, we bankrolled the entire thing,” Jackson said. “This year, we worked with CAHA to actually get sponsors.  The Hurricanes have come through with some money along with some local organizations. This really was an idea that came out of an affiliate.  We’re glad the relationship between CAHA and HPOC Movement has remained strong.”

So is Cassidhe Wozniak.  A former forward for Worcester State University’s NCAA Division III women’s hockey team, Wozniak was a counselor at the camp, putting attendees through their paces on the ice.

“I was running a drill,” she said, “and I asked the kids if they wanted to go 1-on-1 against the coaches and they were so excited because they want to go out there and prove to us their skills and how good they are.

“At the end of the camp, they’re all giving us high-fives, saying they can’t wait to see us next year,” Wozniak said. 

“I plan on going back, too.”