Color of Hockey: Black Hockey Mommies forging lasting legacy

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles the Panthers, an all-Black tournament team organized by the co-founders of the Black Hockey Mommies, a support network of mothers whose children play the sport. The Panthers are celebrating their fifth anniversary.

April Scott and Rochelle Popyon figured they would be one and done when they formed the Panthers, a youth hockey tournament team with a roster of all-Black players in 2022.

“We did it for our sons,” said Scott, who co-founded the Black Hockey Mommies Facebook page with Popyon in 2019. “And then we went to two years, and our kids were still doing it.  And then we went to three years, and our kids had aged out.”

Nine tournaments and more than 100 players later, the Panthers are still going strong.

They’re celebrating their fifth anniversary by playing in the 18U AA division of the Vegas Summer Showdown that begins Thursday at City National Arena, the Vegas Golden Knights practice facility, and America First Center, the practice rink for Vegas’ American Hockey League affiliate in Henderson.

Scott and Popyon, Northern California friends, say the team has provided a bonding experience over the years for players from across North America who are often the only Black players or among the few minorities on their teams or in their leagues at home.

Hockey has become more diverse over the past five years, Popyon said, but there’s still a need for these players and their families to come together and share their experiences in the sport, the triumphs and the setbacks.

“We are putting it out there that Black boys, Black females, Black players exist in hockey, and not only do we exist, we’re doing well in it,” Popyon said. “It also goes along with the fact that there are more Black players in the NHL who are really good, too.”

For the Panthers, bonding occurs on and off the ice. Scott and Popyon said the Panthers always have a “den,” an Airbnb rental at tournaments where players and coaches gather, play games, talk about hockey and life.

Miles Hess, a 16-year-old forward who played with the New Jersey Jr. Titans 16U AAA team last season, experienced that camaraderie while playing against the Panthers during a previous Vegas tournament.

“They let me come to the den and hang out with them for the few days that they were there, even though I was on a different team,” said Hess, who joined the Panthers at a Vegas tournament last year. “Growing up, I’ve been the only African American on my teams. This definitely boosted everything, my confidence, my morale. It made me realize that even though hockey’s not viewed as an African American sport, it shows that there’s a group out there trying to change the game and give inspiration to more young African American kids that maybe don’t think they can do it just because they’re Black.”

Scott and Popyon said when they were organizing a team to play in the Minnesota Showcase Hockey Summer Showdown in Richfield, Minnesota, in June, 2022, and posted about it on the Black Hockey Mommies Facebook group, they weren’t sure how many players they would get beyond their then-16-year-old sons, Gibran Popyon II and Leon Garrett III.

They ended up recruiting 15 other players for the tournament from eight states, from California to New York. Stories and social media accounts about the team’s participation helped draw more elite-level players to the Panthers.

“These kids are stellar athletes, and they’re super-smart,” said Larry Caver, a Buffalo-based coach who has guided the Panthers at tournaments. “These are the best kids at prep schools, the best hockey players and scholastic athletes.”

With years of tournaments under their belt, the Panthers operate with the precision of a well-oiled NHL franchise with Scott and Popyon wearing the simultaneous hats of general manager, scout, travel secretary and equipment manager.

“Right now, we are already looking at our pipeline, what players will be eligible to play next year, what players we currently have that will age out, what tournaments we want to enter,” Popyon said. “We interview each family either through Zoom or a Google Meet.

"We host team meetings about every month until the tournament comes closer, and then it's every two weeks. We do team dinners, organize lunches, activities in the cities that we're going to, a lot of being together, the parents, players, coaches.”

Popyon is stepping away from the Panthers day-to-day after five years, but Scott is soldiering on, enlisting parents to help keep the Panthers rolling and perhaps ice a girls’ tournament team someday.

“I see those babies' faces after meeting for the first time, after playing with us for the first time, and on the very last day of our tournaments,” Scott said. “I see how much fun they had. I can see them talking to one another. And I want that to continue.”