Hockey Haven aims to make sport more accessible
NEW HAVEN — There was a lot of falling — and a lot of getting back up — at New Haven’s Ralph Walker Rink on a recent night.
About two-dozen kids were on the ice learning to play hockey as part of a new coeducational program that aims to make the sport more accessible to underserved communities. Some of the players were nearly as tall as their coaches, others half that height.
The brainchild of Quinnipiac University medical student Aaron Marcel, Hockey Haven has 32 students signed up as part of its first learn-to-play program, Marcel said. Most are between the ages of 5 and 12, he said, and the classes are free to families.
“Hockey’s an extremely nondiverse sport, and it’s very expensive to play,” said Marcel.
The Quincy, Mass., native hails from a “big hockey community.” He played Division 1 in high school, he said, and currently plays in a men’s league.
“It’s taught me so much about adversity, teamwork and leadership,” Marcel said.
As he thought about how to complete the service requirements at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, Marcel said, he wanted to make a “significant impact” in an area he was passionate about.
He floated the idea to classmate Jake Baekey, who immediately hopped on board.
They recruited fellow medical students Zak Foster and Colin Uyeki, as well as Courtney Morgan, a post-baccalaureate student at the University of Connecticut. All are board members for the newly-formed nonprofit.
Like Marcel, Baekey and Morgan have played hockey their whole lives, and the sport’s lack of diversity was hard to ignore.
Morgan began playing hockey at 4 years old, after his parents took him to a Hartford Wolf Pack game.
His parents “had no clue what hockey was,” he said, noting that they are from Jamaica. They only went to the game because his mother got free tickets through work.
“I was like, ‘I want to play, I want to play,’ and they had no clue how to even get started,” Morgan said.
His parents took Morgan to a learn-to-skate program in South Windsor, and he “fell in love instantly.”
He played in youth leagues and in high school.
“I was always, always the only Black kid on my team growing up,” he said.
Throughout his career, Morgan was lucky to have mostly supportive teammates and coaches, he said, but being on otherwise all-white teams sometimes was challenging.
“It was definitely a struggle at times in adjusting and fitting in ... and just hard to relate to the other kids,” he said. “(But) it was also one of the best opportunities I had and I used it as a positive … (to) differentiate myself from everyone else, and help me stand out.”
He recalled one away game when a member of the opposing team used a racial slur. Morgan was 12. He does not want any other child to have to go through that.
In 2017, Morgan played lacrosse on the Jamaican national team. It was the first time he played with teammates that had “the same background as me, looked like me,” he said.
The experience “definitely opened my eyes and made me really want that same thing” for other kids, he said.
By contributing to Hockey Haven, Morgan hopes not only to give other kids the opportunity to play hockey from a young age, but to help make the sport one everyone is comfortable playing, he said.
As the team behind the nonprofit began advertising the program, it caught the attention of the New York Rangers, according to Marcel.
The Rangers agreed to support Hockey Haven, donating all the equipment. The professional ice hockey team, which runs a youth hockey league, also launched a program last year serving kids in under-resourced communities, according to a release from the team.
Meanwhile, Hockey Haven’s founders recruited kids into the program with the help of local
nonprofits, according to Marcel, who said Monk Youth Jazz was an especially important partner.
Rangers jerseys now fill the Ralph Walker Rink one night a week.
This past Wednesday, shortly after 6 p.m., participants practiced taking shots at the net as a coach showed them the best technique for doing so. Near the center of the rink, Baekey carried a boy struggling to find his balance to the edge of the ice and set him down.
The boy skated a foot or two until he fell. Baekey helped him up so he could try again — and again.
The kids wore plenty of gear — helmets, knee pads, puffy gloves — as they went through the trial-anderror of learning to skate. A boy so small his red jersey reached his ankles went down in a heap as soon as he got on the ice.
From a bench nearby, New Haven resident Robert Greene watched, smiling, as his son learned to play hockey.
“I think it’s good for the kids,” he said. “He really likes this. He looks forward to coming here.”
On the opposite end of the bench, Alice Opare of Hamden chuckled as she described the
learning curve for her own son.
“He likes it. You know, he’s falling a lot,” she said. “It’s wonderful. It’s great, just because everything is given to them for free.”
Baekey knows he and his classmates have a lot of work ahead if they want the program to be successful long-term.
For example, Hockey Haven does not want to leave kids hanging once they learn the basics, Baekey said. They hope to work with local leagues so that some of the kids can play in them on scholarships, he said.
The nonprofit also hopes to raise enough money to start its own league, according to Baekey.
Marcel aims to engage the kids in year-round activities, as well. Hockey Haven has bought tickets to off-season games and is looking to get street hockey gear, he said.
There’s another issue: most of the board members are first-year medical students. When they graduate and start residency in three years, they likely will not have time to be as involved, Baekey pointed out.
Hockey Haven has been working with Quinnipiac faculty to come up with a way to sustain the program, according to Baekey, who said they are recruiting other university students to get involved.
Ultimately, Marcel hopes Hockey Haven will look something like Ice Hockey in Harlem, which he described as the “prototype” for the program.
It has been running for more than 30 years.