“Hockey in New Jersey” an after school program where kids play ice hockey for free; photo: Hockey in New Jersey
“No one was allowed to change the channel or leave the room while the puck was in play – it was a sacred ritual.”
When you think of passionate hockey fans, you probably don’t imagine four Sri Lankan kids in Toronto sitting in a room with their eyes glued to an NHL game on TV.
You’d probably be just as surprised to hear about young Latino kids heading to after-school hockey practice in New Jersey. But as Shagana Ehamparam discovered, the face of hockey is starting to change across Canada and the U.S.
With TV networks offering play-by-play of NHL games in Punjabi, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin and Italian, and youth hockey programs gaining popularity in immigrant neighborhoods, hockey is starting to change from a mostly white sport. It’s also helping people in immigrant communities feel less like outsiders.
This podcast is the first in a series that was produced as part of the Telling Immigrant Stories course at The New School.
Listen to our recent podcast How Safe is a Sanctuary City?
Fi2W is supported by the David and Katherine Moore Family Foundation, the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation an anonymous donor and readers like you.
