The seven members of the newly formed Hockey Diversity Alliance have played a combined 4,492 games and counting in the NHL. It’s hard enough to play just one game in the best league in the world when you grow up with every possible advantage. It’s fair to say that these seven men did not have those. And it’s pretty clear they faced additional barriers that many of their white peers can’t begin to fathom.
Against all odds, one of them (Trevor Daley) won two Stanley Cups, one of them (Joel Ward) got a university education and at least three of them (Wayne Simmonds, Chris Stewart and Trevor Daley) overcame their significant socioeconomic disadvantages to be among the best players in the biggest and most expensive minor hockey association in the world before going on to the NHL.