History was made in Exeter, N.H., earlier this month, as an all-minority team led by former NHL players Bryce Salvador and Mike Grier (Holliston, Mass.) appeared in the Beantown Summer Classic — and won it.
Sponsored by the NextGen AAA Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides mentoring and hockey programs to underprivileged youth and underserved communities, the team dressed 20 black and Hispanic players from the United States, Canada and Great Britain.
In the 17th edition of the annual summer showcase, which ran from Aug. 8-11, NextGen scorched the pro division of the invitation-only tournament en route to a 4-2 finals victory, going undefeated on the weekend in front of an audience that regularly includes pro scouts.
“It was a unique experience for the guys,” said Salvador, who played 14 seasons in the NHL and became the third black team captain in NHL history when the New Jersey Devils gave him the ‘C' in 2013. “It’s a situation that doesn’t happen very often for anyone if you’re a minority.
“To be able to put these kids in a situation and have them feel comfortable with everyone that’s around them and that no one’s judging them, or even a preconceived mindset that someone is judging them, it’s something that would have been nice to experience as a player myself.”
The all-minority roster was composed of several NCAA and junior hockey standouts, including Northeastern University defenseman Jordan Harris, a 2018 third-round NHL draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens; Ross Mitton, who played for Omaha in the USHL last season and is set to join Colgate in the fall; Christian Jimenez, who played for the USHL’s Sioux City last season and is set to join Harvard; and Reggie Millette, an AIC commit from Dubuque of the USHL.
Former Cushing Academy star Max Dorrington (2021-22 St. Lawrence commit) also was present.
“It was a locker room experience I’ve never really had before,” said Dorrington, a North Reading, Mass., native. “You could just be yourself in that locker room more than others.”
“Obviously to be coached by two very accomplished individuals was really nice. Just the level of respect they gave us in locker room right away and how we gave it back to them was something that’s not always common for a summer tournament team. But it was definitely more than that.”
In the championship game against Bombers, NextGen's Mason Alderson, who played at Berwick Academy in Maine last season and captained Great Britain at the 2019 IIHF Under-18 World Championship, scored the game-winner late in the third period of an eventual 4-2 decision.
NextGen also featured goaltender Tyriq Outen, who played for Grand Falls Rapids of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League last season and Acadie-Bathurst of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2018-19.
Makai Tarjamo, an ’04 forward who’s been a part of NextGen for several years and led the team at the showcase in scoring, dubbed the experience, “The best time I’ve had playing hockey, by far.”
“It was amazing,” Tarjamo said. “As soon as I got to the team, I automatically connected with the guys. The bond we had … we were all just like one big family. We all came together really nicely, all united as one. We’ve all had common experiences, so that was really good to share. And then on the ice we had really good chemistry, so overall it was a really good experience.”
For Salvador and Boston University product Grier, the only black assistant coach to spend time behind an NHL bench last season (for the Devils), being at the root of culture change in a low-diversity sport is nothing new. This was something different, though.
“Whenever you can get a family together, everyone has bonding in their certain communities, and in their certain ethnicities, and it just so happens to be in the sport of hockey that there is not much diversity,” Salvador said. “Whether you’re Asian, black, Indian, Hispanic, the diversity is just not there, so you always feel like you’re an outsider. When you can create an environment like we are able to do once a year for a weekend, where you can bring a group of diverse kids together where they can just feel relaxed and comfortable, have fun and just play the game that they love, it’s awesome.”
NextGen’s hockey program director, Jeff Devenney, who was also behind the bench in Exeter, said. “These kids, right from the beginning, we got into town a little early, they completely immersed themselves into the group. Everything was a team meal, from breakfast, lunch to dinner.
“And then to watch that evolve into the game itself … up until this year we weren’t necessarily the best team on paper, but what we had that every other team in the showcase lacked was a sense of purpose and team. And it made up for our lack of experience or not having the depth of some of those other teams, because these kids literally played for each other.
“It was like a full season of emotions wrapped into a three-day event. We talked about it as a group. For the first time ever, we won the tournament and I was the only white person in that room. I almost felt like I was stealing a moment but, god, I was so happy to bear witness to it.”
For NextGen, the message coming out of Exeter is clear: There are plenty of high-end players of color invested in making it to the highest level of the game, and they aren’t going to shy away.
“I love the fact that all the younger kids can look up and see that a whole minority team won the tournament and beat a team of all white kids,” Tarjamo said. “That’d be inspirational for me.”
“It just shows that there is something here. There’s more going on behind this picture,” Devenney said. “Again, it’s just a summer showcase, it doesn’t really mean anything to a lot of people, but it meant so much to these kids. They didn’t want it to end and nor did we. It’s quite remarkable.”
The origin of NextGen: A 2014 Bantam game
Focused on “Advancing in athletics and academics,” the idea of NextGen was born in 2014. Founded by philanthropist and self-described hockey mom Dee Dee Ricks, the foundation has helped provide more than $1 million in scholarships to support student-athletes and players of color at many of the leading prep schools, colleges and travel hockey programs in North America.
Ricks is a Wall Street financial consultant and breast cancer survivor whose journey was depicted in the HBO documentary “The Education of Dee Dee Ricks,” which spotlights global health care disparities. She began her efforts after witnessing a racist incident at her son’s Bantam game in which an opposing player made a racial slur at her son’s teammate. In response, Ricks’ son, now 19, delivered a blow that sent the offending player over the boards.
“I remember shaking and going, ‘I don’t want my kid in this sport,’ ” Ricks said. “When he came into the car afterward, I asked him what happened, and it was just one of those moments in life where it hits you and it’s like, ‘Oh my god, they got it.’ My kids had that same sense of justice that I did. I looked at my son and I said, ‘We’re going to change the game.’ So, it became a mission.”
It started with Ricks funding players to play travel hockey, aiming for Division 1 commitments, but it didn’t take long for the cancer survivor to realize how serious it was.
“NextGen really became an organization where we took these top scholar-athletes that show promise in their sport and just, one, keep them in the game, and, two, also level the playing field for kids that didn’t have a rink in their backyard, or couldn’t afford to spend three hours a week with the top trainers or skating coaches. NextGen gives them these types of opportunities with the goal to get them into some of these top prep schools and work toward a strong education, first and foremost, and then, secondly, the opportunity to hopefully play more into college hockey.”
Today, NextGen is diversifying the sport one player at a time. In total, it has taken more than 400 players under its wing, several of whom have progressed to play at prep, junior and collegiate levels.
“A lot of organizations bring you into the sport,” Ricks said. “We keep you in the sport.”
NextGen 2020: Building a team united
The 2020 team isn’t the first coordinated by NextGen. Last year, the foundation fielded a team at the 2019 Battle of Boston Tournament. The year prior, a team was at the 2018 Chowder Cup.
This summer, after losing a substantial amount of funding in the COVID-19 pandemic, the team almost didn’t come to fruition. After witnessing the social unrest and continued activism around the country stemming from the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the end of May, Ricks realized there was no way the team could pass up the opportunity to play.
In less than a month, with recruiting efforts led by Rod Braceful, the assistant director of player personnel for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, a roster was rapidly put together made up of a 50-50 split of players already in the foundation and outside recruits.
NHL agent and NextGen advisor Brett Peterson, a Northboro, Mass., native who played at Boston College, also aided the recruiting charge.
This year’s NextGen team was the first in organization history to feature a roster made entirely of players of color. With its inclusion at this summer’s Beantown showcase, the reach of the foundation and the ideals it promotes should only grow, Ricks said. While teams like this one are playing an impactful role in pushing the game in the right direction in terms of diversity, inclusion and accessibility, further work must be done, as racism continues to plague all levels of the game, from youth to the NHL.
NextGen even faced some backlash for its all-minority makeup, with some people describing the organization as “racist” for dressing only players of color.
“I didn’t even know how to respond to it, honestly,” Devenney said. “But that’s just the reality of the world that we live in. No matter what, there is always going to be someone that questions it.”
“The goal isn’t to create diverse or minority teams and create leagues,” Salvador stressed. “It’s not that at all, and I think sometimes people miss the pure intent of it being a weekend, a group of kids that can relate to each other that don’t normally get to and what’s bringing them together is that they come from diverse backgrounds. That’s what happens to be their unique connection.”
Ricks realized the importance of attending the tournament, especially given the climate.
“It was very hard for me to sit and read that feedback,” she said. “I was devastated. I was sitting with Bryce and Mike and Coach Devenney, and tears were welling up and they were like, ‘Dee Dee, it doesn’t matter what others say. These kids will prove it on the ice. They all belong here.’
“It was their wisdom, because of everything they went through as black NHL players and they knew the only thing you need to do is show up and be the best that you can be, and that’s all I needed. We had the ‘Dream Team’ — players, coaches, Rod Braceful, all of these individuals who came together to form a perfect union in terms of how to guide these kids and handle themselves. It was an incredible experience, one that I’ll remember forever, and I know our players will, too.”
In support of the organization’s involvement, the National Hockey League and Pure Hockey, the largest hockey retailer in the U.S., also sponsored NextGen in the tournament.
“NextGen is carving out a pipeline of diverse, elite-level hockey talent,” said Kim Davis, senior executive vice president of social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs at the NHL. “We believe in the near future more teams across the continent will feature more players of color, and this is a strong signal that we are moving closer to that day.”
On the heels of a 14-year NHL career, with 20-plus years spent playing in the professional ranks, Salvador knows true change can be slow and hard to come by.
“It never happens fast enough when you’re living it, but when you take a step back, absolutely I have seen change,” Salvador said. “A lot of people say it’s not happening fast enough, but things like this just take time and now we’re seeing, because of these initiatives from the NHL and in college and youth programs, of really bringing the game to everyone and really trying to live the mandate that hockey is for everyone. You are seeing more and more diverse kids at higher levels.
“That’s just facts. It doesn’t happen overnight, because you have to go into communities that are typically not hockey communities and you really have to go out of your way to expose the game to people that would not normally be in the game. And when you do that, what we’ve seen over the last several years with all of these initiatives, it’s translating into diversity in the game. You might want it to happen faster, but you have to be appreciative of the change that has happened.”
With the help of its leadership and the players it encompasses, NextGen is molding the next generation to keep fighting that fight.
“These are the kids. They’re the future of the game,” Devenney said. “There still aren’t a lot of diverse players at the top level of the game. There’s just not. They all seek each other out, they all know who each other are, there’s a brotherhood there and we’re hoping to kind of allow that to have NextGen be that national resource for these top kids in their sports to have a platform.
“I’m just hoping this time, because of Mike, because of Bryce, because of the fact that they won, there’s a bit more traction. Because every one of them has a story to tell; everyone in that room.”
For the players, the experience will stick with each of them as they move on with their careers.
“I think it’s making sure that people have access to hockey,” Dorrington said. “I love this game so much, so why wouldn’t I want to share that with everyone and grow the sport, especially in minority communities where it’s not as popular. It’s mostly an economic challenge and struggle for them, but I think that doing this stuff with NextGen really was an eye-opening experience.”
“It’s great to grow the game,” Tarjamo added. “It shows that if you have skill you can play at the highest level. As long as you have the skill you can do it, and we’ve shown that. I hope everyone sees what we did, and it inspires more kids to play, especially if they never had a chance before.”
Liam Flaherty can be reached at [email protected] and @_LiamFlaherty.
