Men’s Hockey
York Athletics | Monday declared Mark Cross Memorial Day
The NHL is celebrating Black History Month in February. Throughout the month, NHL.com will be featuring people of colour who have made or are looking to make their mark in the hockey world. Today, we look at the first all-Black line in Canada college hockey.
Bob Dawson, Percy Paris and Darrell Maxwell didn't know that they were about to jump over the boards and into hockey history when their coach called their names for a line change.
In February 1970, Saint Mary's University coach Bob Boucher did something that no Canada college hockey team is believed to have done before -- put an all-Black forward line on the ice in a game.
"It's something really we never really talked about with him as to why he might have done it," said Dawson, who was a defenseman. "We had a general feeling he was sensitive to issues race-wise and maybe this was his way of trying to make a statement by putting us out there. For the three of us, it didn't register with us until some years later."