"I always looked for a good (Hispanic) angle for a story," Silvia explained. "When I found out that Guerin was of Hispanic descent I reached out to the Devils to set up an interview and the club agreed."
Santiago allowed that she had no idea how Billy G would react or how involved he was in his links to his mother's Spanish roots. Mrs. Guerin was from Nicaragua and became a teacher of Spanish on a university level.
"Billy was just a great guy through the whole process," Santiago recalled. "He not only was very friendly but very proud of his Hispanic roots. In fact he told me that his 'first language' was Spanish; that is, until he started playing hockey.
"He used to spend his school vacation time visiting his grandparents in Nicaragua. Billy loved to tell the story about how his Spanish-speaking mom met his dad who was American-born."
The first Guerin-Santiago interview received a positive audience response and that led to more interviews on Spanish language TV with Billy. As a result of Silvia's segments, the audience paid more attention to the Devils and Jersey hockey.
Santiago: "Throughout Billy's career with the Devils -- including his being on the 1995 Stanley Cup-winning team -- he never failed to represent his Hispanic roots with pride."
Ditto for Gomez who became a Devil for the 1999-2000 second Stanley Cup season. A star for the Western (Junior) Hockey League's Tri-City Americans, Scotty was picked by New Jersey in the 1998 Entry Draft, 27th overall.
"As soon as Gomer made it to New Jersey, I made a point of interviewing him since both his parents are Hispanic (Mexican-Colombian)," Santiago remembered. "I also interviewed both his parents several times.
"Scotty became popular in the local Hispanic community and the Devils gained new fans because of him. His parents' hard work and sacrifice -- that made it possible for him to play hockey -- was understood by the Hispanic community."
Silvia, who covered the Devils for 17 years as a journalist for local Spanish Language TV, is quick to point out that current NHL stars also are honoring National Hispanic Heritage Month.
"These days we have Matt Nieto, Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs who's from Mexican-American roots as well as Max Pacioretty of Vegas, among others," noted Santiago. "Plus, even the NHL now has a Spanish Language site."
And for good reason; hockey has become popular in such non-traditional ice nations as Colombia, Argentina and Mexico, just to name a few. No doubt stickhandlers in those nations have been influenced by Guerin and Gomez.
"For me," Santiago concluded, "Billy and Scotty were the pioneers. They'll always rank among my first favorite hockey players."
Then, a pause and a smile: "Not only as New Jersey hockey stars but as Hispanic-American players who made it big in the big league!"
