IT ALL STARTED WITH…

The modern game of hockey is the result of a blending of European shinny and Mi’kmaq lacrosse in 19th century Nova Scotia. From the very beginning people of colour took up the game with great enthusiasm, leading to the 1895 founding of one of the world’s earliest hockey associations, the Coloured Hockey League, based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. CHL player Eddie Martin is widely credited as the inventor of the slapshot. But the increasing popularity of hockey resulted in the marginalization of players of colour as the landscape came to be dominated by larger mainstream leagues with little or no ethnic diversity. Hockey came to be an almost exclusively white game, all but closed to young people of colour who aspired to take part. This situation persisted for decades.

In 1992 Kirk Brooks and Cayos Levy founded Ontario’s Black Hockey Federation (also known as the Black Hockey School) so that their own sons would have a place to play and learn the game without facing prejudice. The instructors included retired NHL alumni such as Tony McKegney, Dale Craigwell, Freddy Braithwaite and Nathan Lafayette. In 2000 the hockey school’s name was changed by a player contest, and the winning entry was Ebony Skillz Hockey, which remained the school’s identity for two years until the increasing diversity of the students attended made the “ebony” moniker self-limiting. Because Kirk’s vision has always been a school that is closed to no one, the more inclusive name SKILLZ HOCKEY and the school’s modern identity was born.

SKILLZ HOCKEY has graduated many students who have gone on to pursue careers in the NHL as players, but also as coaches, scouts, referees, trainers and agents. Alumni who have returned to provide instruction and mentorship include New Jersey Devils’ Kevin Weekes, Dallas Stars’ Trevor Daley, and Washington Capitals’ Joel Ward. SKILLZ consulting coaches have included game luminaries such as Steve Serdachny, Brad Richards, Dale Craigwell, Freddy Braithwaite, Cory Isen, and Anson Carter, providing the highest-level teaching possible for our most advanced students with real prospects for league careers. Today in 2015 SKILLZ HOCKEY is a fixture in the Ontario hockey scene, accepting students from all walks of life based on one sole criterion: ability. From March Break camps to summer programmes, seminars and highly competitive tournaments, SKILLZ HOCKEY remains dedicated to empowering students to pursue the sport they love with experts that have been there, following their dreams without barriers.

IT ALL STARTED WITH…

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