When CCM got involved to contribute a pair of skates for Kyle to paint, the culture and people of Lake Street were the inspiration for the design plans, as was a bright blue and yellow mural of George Floyd at the site of his killing that was completed in late May by three local artists.
"We want to make it loud," Kyle said. "You don't see custom skates very often so we do it want to make it pop. We don't want it to be subtle. We want there to be some loud colors in there."
Matt and Kyle talked discussed the story they wanted to tell with the skates last week and Kyle got to work on them. A goalie who recently finished his last season of collegiate hockey, Kyle took up painting a few years ago and started selling his work before combining his artistic talent with his love of sneakers. Within the last year, he's begun selling custom painted sneakers, but the skates have even more quirks to navigate.
In addition to being oddly shaped, Kyle must sand off the clear coat on the skates before he begins painting. He likened it to painting a goalie mask and even consulted the person who does the art on his mask for tips.
"To make that look clean and still represent the story that we're trying to tell with where the money from this auction is going to and making that story clear is one of that challenges of a skate instead of a flat canvas," Kyle said.
But the all the work will be more than worth it when the money raised promises to make a big impact. Getting involved in activism has come naturally for the brothers, who grew up with a diverse family, including several adopted aunts and uncles from different countries and a multicultural group of friends. Their father Charles is Romanian and German, and their mother Treena is Filipino. Because of their upbringing, the Dumba brothers' devotion to fighting racism and bigotry only grew as Matt gained more recognition as an NHL player.
Matt is a founding member of the
Hockey Diversity Alliance
, along with current and former NHL players, that is working to eradicate racism in hockey. He became the first NHL player to kneel for the national anthem Saturday after giving an impassioned speech about supporting Black people in their fight for equality. He raised his fist in protest for the U.S. and Canadian anthems before the Wild's Stanley Cup Qualifier game against the Vancouver Canucks and he's vowed to continue to do so moving forward.
"Yes he's a been great hockey player from the time he was a kid until now and it's gotten him to where he is, but knowing him as his brother and seeing how he's always been someone to stop and lend a helping hand or make a difference and want to see change for the better, it doesn't surprise me that he's taken this leadership role on and been so involved in this movement," Kyle said.
"It makes me really proud because it's what I've always expected from him and I think he expects a lot of that from me too and that's why we've been doing a lot of this together."
