First all-black line in Canadian university hockey honoured
They made history on the ice in 1970, although none of them thought much about it at the time.
“It was just about the game then,” Percy Paris said. “I recognized that there were three brothers on the ice, but the significance of it wasn’t driven home. My first concern when we were out there, was not having any goals scored against us — and the number 2 priority was putting the puck in the opposition’s net.”
But it was, in fact, a historical first.
Paris, Bob Dawson and Darrell Maxwell became the first all-black forward line in Canadian university and college hockey when the Saint Mary’s Huskies beat Mount Allison University that day. It was an achievement recognized, too, by the Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame, as it honoured the three men Thursday night.
Former Huskies coach Bob Boucher also received an award, not only for his decision to play the three men together, but for choosing Dawson for the team in 1967, then the first black player in the Atlantic Intercollegiate Hockey League.