Kwame Mason’s new film examines Blacks in hockey. (Courtesy photo)
A new documentary detailing the role of Blacks in professional hockey was screened Feb. 19 at Morgan State University’s Student Center in Baltimore.
“Soul on Ice,” created by filmmaker Kwame Mason, explores the history of Blacks in hockey—a sport stereotypically thought to only be played and enjoyed by Whites.
“I thought that at one point I’ll be able to do a project like this” Mason told the AFRO. “It’s something new, something educational, I feel like Blacks need to broaden their horizons a little.”
While living in Canada in 2005, Mason went to a lot of hockey games, and was struck by the lack of players who looked like him.
“Why weren’t there a lot of Black hockey players?,” he asked.
The film highlights The Colored League of the Maritimes, created in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the early 1900s, as well as the Black players of today.
Mason said there were key differences in the way Blacks and Whites played the game during those early years.
“Black people would play the game differently from White people because there were different rules,” the filmmaker said. The Colored League is credited with innovating the “slap shot” as well as the goalie dropping to the ice to stop the puck.
Mason, who was present at the Morgan State screening for a question-and-answer session after the film, said he brought it to the university in order to show young people that it’s okay to step outside the box and do something different.