Random Acts of Kindness finds uplift in her scary trip downstairs.
Penguins defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph knows what it is like to be a Black hockey player in the youth leagues.
Now, he is paying it forward to the next generation.
The 22-year-old flew in from Montreal for a day to be a guest instructor for the Willie O’Ree Academy earlier this month at the UMPC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry to help a program that is designed to promote diversity and inclusion in hockey.
The kids at the academy were surprised by their coaches with the appearance, and it is one that they relished, enjoying their time with Mr. Joseph as he helped them during their drills and joked around with them.
“Their faces meant everything to me. Their eyes got big, the smiles on everyone’s faces, how could you not be happy to be there with those kids and have some fun for an hour?” Mr. Joseph said afterward.
On top of that, Mr. Joseph said he was willing to answer questions about what it is like to be a young Black hockey player in a sport that still struggles with diversity at times, but is growing fast to be morediverse and inclusive.
“I feel like it’s easy for me to talk to them about stuff like that and give them some advice about how to react about negative stuff that will happen on the ice, off the ice, stuff like that. I was happy to answer all of the kids’ questions,” Mr. Joseph said.
He believes that it is important for people to know about Willie O’Ree’s legacy as the first Black player in the NHL and he is now trying to teach others about the impact he has had on the hockey world.
“Every time I ask someone if they know who Willie O’Ree is and their answer is no, I’m trying to teach them a little bit about him. He means so much for us being able to play in this league,” Mr. Joseph said. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Willie back then, having the slurs [directed] at him and stuff like that. It was new for the world to have a Black player playing in the NHL. He just opened the path for us and our goals as the next Black athletes.”
Growing up in the Montreal area, Mr. Joseph was heavily influenced by P.K. Subban, one of the more recognizable Black hockey players. Mr. Subban was heavily involved in community outreach while he played for the Montreal Canadiens in terms of promoting the sport to people of all backgrounds. That is something that Mr. Joseph and the Penguins as a whole are hoping to emulate in Pittsburgh over thecoming years.
“It just shows a little bit more about your personality, you just see him everywhere with a smile, having fun with kids,” he said. “I feel like that’s something that’s part of our values as a family, I just want to give back our values to other people as well.”
Those values are something that both him and the Penguins have and want to give back to the community, and Mr. Joseph was grateful that the Penguins have entrusted him, especially with just 16 career NHL games under his belt, to go into the community and make an impact.
“I was really happy that they thought of me. I want to stay here for as long as I can and my goal is to make an impact on the ice and also off the ice. Stuff like that will make a great impact on the community,” he said. “I feel like it’s our job as professional athletes to show kids and the next generation how everybody can reach their dream.”
Mr. Joseph’s brother Mathieu, who has spent the last three seasons with the Tampa Bay Lighting and has been on both of the backto-back Stanley Cup-winning teams, has also had a big impact on him as well as the Black hockey community as a whole. Mathieu winning the Stanley Cup twice has had a big impact on P.O., and he hopes that more diversity in hockey will lead to more Black players winning championships and having success.
“To see him raise a Cup for another year was priceless,” Mr. Joseph said. “There’s not a lot of Black names on this Cup and hopefully the future will bring more and more diversity on it.”
All in all, what Mr. Joseph really wants is to show kids that it doesn’t matter what your background is.
“If you want to play in the NHL, you got to believe it, you got to work for it,” Mr. Joseph said. “Everybody, whether you’re white, Black, if you believe in this or that, you have your chance to be in hockey or any other sport.”