The Cyclones black players hope to get new faces in hockey

CINCINNATI Cincinnati Cyclones defenseman Jalen Smereck grew up in a hockey family in Detroit.

His father loved sports and passed that passion on to him by coaching him and his brother in youth hockey, Smereck said. But despite growing up in a town affectionately known as Hockeytown, the sport did not reflect Smereck or his family.

Smereck is African American.

The 26-year-old didn’t see many players who looked like him when he watched the Red Wings or other National Hockey League clubs as a kid. Just as important, he said, there weren’t many black players with him on the ice or in the locker room when he was learning the game.

The The Associated Press reported in October that more than 90% of NHL players are white, like almost all coaches and officials. The numbers in minor league hockey are not very different.

Now, one of three black players on the Cyclones’ 22-man roster, Smereck is serious about his job as a role model for black fans who dream of playing hockey at the highest level. He also wants to help attract new audiences to the sport.

“It’s definitely unique,” Smereck said of the Cyclones locker room. We all want to be great hockey players, but I think we also understand that we have a lot of younger fans that look up to us.

During the season, Smereck is often paired with fellow defenders Dajon Mingo or Josh Burnside, both of whom are black. The trio has helped the Cyclones to a tie for first place in the ECHL Central Division heading into the final two months of the regular season.

Mingo, who hails from the Detroit area, was the only black player on the Cyclones roster to start last season. The team also featured Yushiroh Hirano, who later that season became the first Japanese-born player to score in the American Hockey League.

Burnside joined the Cyclones midway through last year. This is Smerecks first season in Cincinnati.

This is a cool place to play, Mingo said. We have a good locker room and a great group of guys who love his game and playing together. It’s nice to have someone in the locker room that looks like you, though, because you’ve been through the same things on and off the ice.

Josh Burnside and Dajon Mingo have been on the Cyclones roster for the past two seasons. Also on the list was Yushiroh Hirano, who became the first Japanese-born player to score in the American Hockey League. (Photo: Cincinnati Cyclones)

Mingo is older than some of his peers. The 32-year-old said it was rare to see another non-white player in a junior hockey league in the early 90s or 2000s.

He recalled traveling with teams in the past and mistaking them for a basketball team because people weren’t used to seeing black hockey players.

The sport has grown in recent years, especially in the United States, Mingo said. But he feels there is still work to be done.

I’ve been the only (black player) before and it can be weird, he added. Obviously, you exist because you love hockey, but if you have someone who has gone through similar things in life, it’s different.

However, the versatile roster is bigger than just the locker room, Mingo said. He noted that many of the team’s fans are younger. It’s important that the players look like them and come from similar backgrounds, Mingo said.

It’s great to look out into the crowd and see young kids having fun and enjoying hockey, he added. Who knows? They could be here playing one day.

Burnside had a different experience growing up in Canada. Youth hockey was much more diverse in Brampton, Ontario, just outside of Toronto, he said. But even then, there were other challenges, ranging from a lack of diverse stars in the game to socioeconomic challenges that keep people from choosing to play hockey, he said.

Obviously our first job is to help our club win games, but I think we all understand that sometimes when people look at us, they see more than just hockey players, Burnside, 28, said.

Jason Payne, the head coach of the Cyclones, knows firsthand the experiences of being black in pro hockey. The former left winger bounced around several minor league hockey organizations during his 14-year career before transitioning to coaching.

No matter where he played, whether it was London, Ontario or Wheeling, W.Va. Payne was likely the only player of color on his team.

Everyone in our locker room is, first and foremost, great hockey players. “They wouldn’t be here if they couldn’t play,” Payne said. But being able to show that this is a game for everyone is important, and these guys help prove that.

Jason Payne is one of the few black men to coach a professional hockey team. (Photo: Cincinnati Cyclones)

There were only 54 active players in the NHL last season who were Arab, Asian, Black, Latino or Native American. And the numbers are even lower in the coaching ranks.

Payne is one of the few black men to coach a professional hockey team. But he hopes things will change this way.

Earlier this season, Payne and Kalamazoo K-Wings first-year head coach Joel Martin made history when he became the first black man to coach against another in North American professional hockey history.

Payne said he enjoys talking about race and diversity in hockey because it’s the only way to change the sport.

It’s something we don’t take lightly, he said. Hopefully these guys can show the young players that if they work hard, they can make it here too.

Diversity is a key part of the Cyclones culture, according to franchise president and CEO Kristin Ropp. He noted that it’s good to give young fans heroes to idolize, but it’s also important for corporate culture, he said.

We live by the mantra that hockey is for everyone, Ropp added. If a player knows how to play our brand of hockey and plays it with character and integrity, he has a place in our locker room.

Expanding the demographics of their fan base is good for business and good for the game, Ropp said.

For it the franchise formed the Cincinnati Cyclones Foundation in December 2016. The foundation assists young players with expenses related to playing the sport. They offer equipment and ice time either at their home rink at the Heritage Bank Center or at other hockey or skating facilities around Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

The club also regularly hosts clinics and meet and greet events at local schools throughout the region. They also invite student groups to the games.

Payne emphasized the desire to promote the game to attract more people to the game, whether it be fans and players or the next generation of general managers, scouts and coaches.

We all love hockey. Our main goal is to make sure kids see hockey as a potential opportunity so they can fall in love with it too, he added.