Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey [Hardcover]

Cecil Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2004

Black hockey players from Grant Fuhr to Jarome Iginla speak candidly for the first time about their experiences in the NHL. Since 1958, thirty-seven black men have played in the National Hockey League. Out of the 600 players active today, fourteen are black. This is the first book to tell the unique stories of black hockey players - how they overcame or succumbed to racial and cultural prejudices to play Canada's favourite pastime. Sports journalist Cecil Harris outlines in detail the personal and professional battles as well as the victories of such hockey pioneers as Herb Carnegie and Willie O'Ree - men whose determination, skill and sheer love of the game smoothed the ice for black players to follow. Harris talks to well-known players like Grant Fuhr, the first black goaltender to be inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame (2003), and 2001-02 MVP and Olympic gold medallist Jarome Iginla. With stick-handling precision, "Breaking the Ice" documents the struggles and contributions of black players to hockey, and leaves an indelible mark on hockey history. Includes exclusive interviews with hockey legends such as: Jarome Iginla, Herb Carnegie, Mike Marson, Willie O'Ree, Tony McKegney, Kevin Weekes, Grant Fuhr, Anson Carter and Donald Brashear.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cecil Harris is a veteran sports reporter who has covered the NHL for The Hockey News and The Sporting News. He covered the New York Rangers and New York Islanders for New York Newsday, and the Carolina Hurricanes for the Raleigh News and Observer. Breaking the Ice is his first book. Harris lives in Yonkers, NY, USA.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Insomniac Press (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894663586
• ISBN-13: 978-1894663588
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #496,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An in-depth look at the rich history of blacks in hockey, October 10, 2008

By 

Cecil Harris "Author, Call the Yankees My Daddy" (Yonkers, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey (Paperback)

The term "black hockey player" is not the oxymoron most people assume it to be. In fact, blacks have played hockey with distinction since the 19th century. A Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes existed in Canada until the 1920s. Breaking the Ice deeply explores the rich history of blacks in hockey, giving long-overdue attention to such stars from the 1940s and '50s as Herb Carnegie and Willie O'Ree ("the Jackie Robinson of hockey") as well as Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr and more contemporary National Hockey League stars such as Jarome Iginla, Georges Laraque and Kevin Weekes. These proud men talk candidly about the racial, economic, geographical and cultural obstacles they overcame to succeed in hockey. And the successes of these men have opened the door for other ethnic groups to participate in hockey at the highest level.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars could have been so much more, June 1, 2005

By 

theCultFigurine (Washington state) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey (Hardcover)

Unfortunately, this interesting topic is ultimately undone by the book's facile approach & its author's lame, 4th grade prose.

Mainly, the book collects biographical information & creates portraits of many of the game's black players. Some chapters are devoted to a single player, e.g. Jarome Iginla or Willie O'Ree (the first black man to play in the NHL). Other chapters focus on players with a common thread, e.g. black goaltenders. The book is rounded out by brief looks at the opportunities (or lack thereof) for coaching & organizational positions for blacks, and at youth & diversity programs that aim to increase access to hockey for minorities.

I enjoyed reading the players' stories, how they have handled racism in their careers, and about their passion for the game. Particularly good were the chapters about early players like Herb Carnegie, who never made it to the NHL, and those who first broke the color barrier. Most of the men profiled in the book have encountered overt racism along their way to becoming elite hockey players. In some cases, the racism was totally outrageous and shockingly premeditated. Fans throwing bananas or chicken bones on the ice. The organist at an opposing team's arena leading the crowd in singing racist taunts. The mind boggles.

However, a few players featured in the book faced hardly any racially-motivated opposition to pursuing hockey, while others experienced much more adversity. Here is where the book falls short of what I would have hoped for. Why would this be? Were there circumstances that made some towns or youth leagues more accepting? Were there significant social factors or immigration patterns that had an effect? The reader is left wondering. The book is also begging for a thoughtful treatment of the fact that <2% of Canadians are of African or Carribean etc. descent, which would obviously be a factor limiting the total # of hockey-playing blacks and contributing to racism generally.

Also annoying was the consistently faux turgid and/or florid sportswriter's prose. There were countless references to players benefiting because their predecessors "smoothed the ice" for them. And check out this groan-inducing passage that opens the chapter about youth programs for minorities:

"It would be easy to mistake the group's name for a dreadful situation comedy on the television network, UPN. But Ice Hockey In Harlem only sounds like a program that could follow `Homeboys In Outer Space' on a fledgling network's prime-time schedule. Fortunately, though, Ice Hockey In Harlem is a program worthy of attention."

Geez. Get an editor.

Bottom line: Barely Recommended. I learned things, so I can't condemn it outright. Only for hockey fans with low expectations.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What does Buck Leonard have in common with Herbie Carnegie?, April 12, 2004

By 

Edward A. Cesarone (Kirkland, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey (Hardcover)

Cecil Harris has chronicled the history of black hockey players attempting to professionally compete in the National Hockey League. Parellels abound with the countless Afro-American baseball players attempting to play professional baseball from the early 1900's to the ground breaking Jackie Robinson inclusion in 1947.
Bonafide NHL candidates like Herbie Carnegie and Manny McIntyre were denied entry into the NHL simply because they were black...yet they were permitted to play for the Quebec Aces along with Jean Beliveau...and excelled.
Read about Willie O'Ree becoming the first black to play in the NHL with the Boston Bruins. Enduring the insults and indignites just to professionally compete in the game of hockey, O'Ree was hockey's version of Jackie Robinson.
Today, thanks to Carnegie and O'Ree, we can view black players like Jarome Iginla leading Calgary's Stanley Cup quest, as one of the major stars of the 21st century.
Carnegie, McIntyre, O'Ree and countless others (meticulously outlined in Harris' text), clearly led the way for today's Iginla, Anson Carter and Nathan Robinson...
Cecil Harris provides a timely snapshot of a welome addition to the NHL, the black professional hockey player competing at the highest level as skilled players.