Creating A Diverse Hockey Community Takes Many Hands But Kings Are Committed To Those Efforts

Moments before Kendal Troutman was set to be named the first honoree of the LA Kings/Mercury Insurance Hockeywood Hall of Fame, she was up on chair at the Toyota Sports Performance Center yelling out messages of thanks to the young hockey players in her successful 24 Degrees of Color diversity hockey program.

As she was being introduced parents and guardians and youngsters cheered and hollered their support.

“We love you,” someone yelled.

“I love you, too,” Troutman called back.

In her moment Troutman made it about those around her.

Somehow fitting for a woman whose first entrance into the world of ice sports left her angry and determined to make changes.

A couple of hours later and a few traffic jams away at the Kings Ice at Pickwick Gardens, LA Kings players Quinton Byfield, Akil Thomas and Jacob Moverare stepped onto the ice with about three dozen youngsters ranging in age from roughly five to 16, a group representing a dizzying array of cultural and racial backgrounds.

There’s a line that connects all this.

It might be subtle, and you might have to look at it a certain way to see it, but that line real and it is strong like a fishing line.

It starts with this notion; that to build a hockey community, or rather a community whose bedrock is the game of hockey, takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of hands.

It’s like a garden. You can plant the seeds but without diligence and regular watering and weeding growth is difficult.

Troutman didn’t grow up with much and she certainly didn’t grow up with winter ice sports as a pastime.

But when she became a mother a decade ago, she wanted her daughter Amai to have a broad canvas of experiences and opportunities.

They watched the Winter Olympics together and Amai was taken by figure skating.

So, Troutman enrolled her daughter in a local figure skating program but soon felt that being Black and not being affluent were very real and significant impediments to being accepted into that community.

So, they quit.

“I had a few experiences that were gut-wrenching, and I realized that these sports were not necessarily designed historically for people of color. Especially people from lower economic communities,” Troutman recalled.

Photo by David Kirouac/NHLI via Getty Images

Too often that’s where these kinds of stories stop.

Not this one.

The arena operators and the LA Kings learned of Troutman’s experiences and offered to help.

“I was like ‘I want a diversity ice skating program. I would love it if we can create a way for parents never to feel like I felt through this process,’” Troutman said.
Not only did it happen, but it also happened very quickly.

Through Troutman’s non-profit organization, 24 Degrees of Color, it turned out there were lots of people who shared her vision.

“I didn’t think that it would be as rapid success as it has been,” Troutman said. “Our first learn to skate session was eight kids. Then eight weeks later we had 42, eight weeks later there’s 96 and it’s growing and I’m like oh my gosh.”

She knows that it’s not the same everywhere in the hockey world but here she has helped create a safe space where kids from all kinds of backgrounds can come together and learn about the game and take joy in those moments on the ice that many people take for granted.

On Sunday, as part of the LA Kings’ annual rink tour, her group was on the ice at Toyota Sports Center with captain Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala, Trevor Lewis and broadcaster Daryl Evans.

“I could have never imagined it becoming exactly what it is,” Troutman said. “It means a lot honestly. I didn’t grow up with a lot and my world view and my experiences in life were very limited. I think one of the things about moments like this is that it allows my daughter to dream big and see possibilities.”

Amai is more interested in competitive dance than figure skating or house league hockey these days. But that’s okay. Having choices is important.

Troutman is still here, though, bitten by the hockey bug and determined to keep going with what she started. In doing so it remains a very teachable moment for Amai not to mention all the hockey kids and their parents and guardians.

It allows Amai to see her mom as someone who has forged deep relationships and made a difference in her community.

“As a Black woman specifically, to have such incredible partners, to be recognized for the work that we’re doing together is incredible, and I hope that it just really gives her the push and the continued motivation to know that she can achieve and do whatever she wants especially when she’s putting others’ needs alongside her own and also being aware that she’s a piece of a bigger part, a part of a community,” Troutman said.

It’s easy to say inclusivity, it’s so much harder to create it.

But if you stopped by any of the seven rinks in the Los Angeles area on this sunny Sunday in November you’d have seen glimpses of what that that looks like in real time.
Watching Byfield, Thomas and Moverare on the ice at Pickwick Gardens it was hard to tell who was more excited, the NHL players or the kids racing around the ice with them.
Thomas is one of the people who has been supportive of Troutman’s efforts.

Thomas has assisted with the Kings’ Black History Month initiatives the past couple of seasons and his clothing line, ZALE Apparel, helped design a jersey and other merchandise for sale with the proceeds going to Troutman’s 24 Degrees of Color.

“She’s an amazing lady,” Thomas said. “It’s a really cool program she’s got going there. I’ve gone out and skated with the kids and stuff like that. Gotten to know her quite a bit. She’s obviously doing some really cool stuff.”

LA Kings Ice Burbank is proud to have welcomed #55 Quinton Byfield, #43 Jacob Moverare, #26 Akil Thomas and players from Black, Silver and Bold to this year’s LA Kings Tour on Sunday, November 17. pic.twitter.com/37azWcGODO

— LA Kings Ice at Pickwick Gardens (@Pickwick_Ice) November 19, 2024

Thomas grew up in the Toronto area.

As a youngster he had an Anson Carter action sports figure.

Carter, who is Black, had a successful NHL career and is now a national broadcast analyst with Turner and is a key figure in the NHL’s diversity efforts.

“It’s always easier to think something’s possible if you can look at someone and maybe they look a little bit like you and you just know it’s possible,” Thomas explained. “Little me was like if (Carter) can play in the NHL then I want to play in the NHL. Sometimes it’s something as simple and little as that, just to have an idol, someone that looks like you.”

Xavier Gartrell, 10, was admittedly a bit nervous getting ready for Sunday’s skate with the Kings at Pickwick Gardens. He didn’t know the other kids and then there was the whole idea of being on the ice with actual NHLers.

“I was literally talking about Byfield and he walks up and my son is just like, ‘you just said his name and he showed up,’” Xavier’s father William Gartrell said with a laugh. “I didn’t even know. He was like oh my gosh, that is so cool. And he instantly wasn’t nervous anymore and he’s very excited.”

Normally, there’s a disconnect between pro athletes and the fans, especially younger fans.

“There’s a distance, you don’t see them as people,” Gartrell said.

But for a kid like Xavier, who started skating two years ago, this kind of close contact with the Kings players galvanizes his burgeoning love of the game.

Skating around, stickhandling, taking passes from real pro players helps deconstruct any barriers that might have existed.

“You realize, hey they started out like you, you can do things they did and it’s really, really good, especially as an African American in hockey it really, really helps,” Gartrell said. “He loves it. He was just saying today one of his favorite things to do is just get out there on the ice and he likes being with his teammates and just the playing. He fell in love with the game. He really appreciates that.”

Byfield understands the importance of being seen and being engaged at these types of events.

“Growing up it was just kind of myself on my hockey teams that looked like me” Byfield said. “Coming out here and seeing all different kinds of diversities out here was very cool and see where hockey’s coming. It’s come a long way. It just shows that the game’s growing and it’s moving in the right direction.”

Helping the Kings’ players on this day was Chelsey Goldberg who grew up in L.A. County and started playing roller hockey at 10 and switched to ice hockey to play with her twin brother at 12.

The game has been her life taking her to Northeastern University in Boston where she played Division I hockey. That was followed by a professional career in the Boston area and more recently in Sweden.

While the players were handing out signed cards in a long, narrow dressing room before the on-ice session Goldberg talked about the importance of the players’ presence even if some of the kids don’t really know who they are.

“To see how much the game has grown since I started playing back in the day over 20 years ago now it’s amazing,” Goldberg said. “So, to have these guys come in as role models is really special and I think it’s just a testament to how much the game has grown it’s going to continue grow and these kids have players to look up to which is the most exciting thing about it.”

And talk of diversity? This is the kind of day that illustrates just what it means to say a thing like ‘hockey is for everyone’ and think it might actually be so.

“I think the diversity of the game is so important. It really gives a fair playing field for everybody and to me that’s so exciting, to see the different colors and the different backgrounds, religions,” Goldberg said. “Whatever you are it doesn’t matter. We’re all here to share the same experience of playing hockey and to me that’s the most exciting part about it.”

Back at Toyota Sports Center Troutman has been given a plaque and had her picture taken with Kopitar et al near the interactive screen that will share her story and the stories of all the everyday heroes that will join Troutman as part of the Hockeywood Hall of Fame.

Some of the future honorees will have strong connections to the game like Troutman, others won’t have any.
That’s kind of the point.

“There are so many different stories and so many different people and this is all about celebrating those people that make a difference,” explained Erik Thompson Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer for Mercury Insurance.

“Those people that make Los Angeles this amazing tapestry of different people from different places from all walks of life and it could be someone like Kendal. It could be a school crossing guard, it could be a blood drive nurse,” Thompson said. “We’re hoping that this is not just this year and not just next year but many years into the future where it’s something that we continue to build and celebrate and highlight these people that don’t seek recognition but deserve it.”