Editor’s Note: This story contains a correction. Abel participated in field hockey through the Park District of Oak Park, not the West Cook YMCA as previously reported.
An Oak Park native signed up to be part of history when he inked a deal to play on the first ice hockey program at a Historically Black College and University.
Xavier Abel became the first committed player to Tennessee State University’s newly established ice hockey program in January. He will be continuing to play center.
“As an African-American player in my sport and the hurdles I had to overcome and what I went through, I feel that having an opportunity like this for other minority players like myself could be amazing,” Abel said. “It could essentially change the culture of the sport and create more opportunities for players like myself so that they don’t have to face the same adversity and obstacles I faced through my come up. I wanted to be a part of that.”
While the TSU’s team is in the very early stages of recruiting players, according to an article on ESPN, it plans to start as a hockey club team for the 2024-25 season with hopes to achieve its National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I status by the 2026-27 season, putting it in the same division as other top universities including the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Arizona State University.
For Abel, 22, the road to Tennessee State actually began at the Park District of Oak Park, where Abel, at the age of eight, began participating in sports leagues including basketball and soccer.
It was at the Park District that Abel first participated in a field hockey league as a goalie.
At the recommendation of his coach, Abel decided to try ice hockey.
But first things first, he needed to learn how to ice skate.
Abel took skating lessons at Paul Hruby Ice Area, located inside Ridgeland Common Recreation Complex, on Lake Street.
Abel said what really sold him on the sport was when he attended a Chicago Blackhawks 2009 playoff game as a prize for winning a raffle at his school, Keystone Montessori in River Forest.
At the game, Dustin Byfuglien, number 33, saw Abel wearing his jersey and gave him his signed hockey stick.
“That made me completely ecstatic,” Abel said. “I just want to essentially pass the torch off to the kid from the next generation and hopefully make it to the NHL myself so I can do that Byfuglien did because that was what really drove me to really pursue hockey and go all the way with it.”
Abel began to dedicate himself to hockey, playing for various teams across Chicagoland and the nearby suburbs including, Chicago Bruins Hockey out of Addison and Chicago Blues Hockey Club out of Bensenville.
It wasn’t long before Abel looked around the ice rink and realized he was the one of the only, if not the only, Black player on the teams he was playing for.
“I was one of the only in the league,” Abel said.
Abel bonded with another young Black hockey player whom he often saw at the ice rink, becoming good friends during the seasons they played hockey but Abel recalled being the only two Black players.
“It was definitely an interesting experience,” Abel said. “There were times when I would come across ignorant people who would say ignorant things, but honestly, I blame the adults. The adults didn’t say anything to me but the kids said ignorant things to me and I hold the adults accountable.”
Some of those moments have stuck with him.
“I had a kid say to me ‘why do you play Hockey when you’re Black? Why don’t you play basketball? Why are you here?’” Abel recalled.
Despite the hurt in that moment, Abel channeled those experiences and let his game speak for itself.
His talent was embraced, which brought with it positive experiences as well.
“It goes both ways but it definitely was a harder experience,” Abel said. “Being in a world when nobody looks like you, you feel uncomfortable at times and you have to go through uncomfortable conversations. It is definitely a learning experience.”
While he was on track to attend Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Abel decided to pursue hockey, which took him to Canada.
Abel attended high school in Toronto, where he played hockey for the Toronto Red Wings Greater Toronto Hockey League.
In Canada, Abel said he faced another challenge: being an American player on a Canadian team.
“I went through a lot of adversity that year,” Abel said, adding that moving away from his family at 14 to attend boarding school was also tough for him.
Abel also played for Blyth Academy Central and the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs.
Abel transitioned to college hockey after he was recruited to Drury University, in Springfield, Missouri, with an academic scholarship.
According to The Tennessean, during his time at Drury, Abel was the only Black player on the inaugural hockey team for the 2022-23 season and scored the first goal on Sept. 23, 2022 against Saint Louis.
During his time at Drury, Abel played in 34 games, with 12 goals and six assists. He also had 24 penalty minutes.
In a 2022 article by USA Today, the NHL was working toward changing the predominantly white face of the sport. In the article, Kim Davis, executive VP of social impact, growth and legislative affairs for the NHL, said players of color made up roughly 7% of the league but that the NHL does “not keep official statistics on the racial makeup of team rosters.”
According to a 2022 article by ESPN, the NHL had also partnered with Jopwell, a diversity hiring startup, to expand its recruiting and attract more diverse talent to the organization and the NHL coach’s association created mentoring programs for women and BIPOC candidates.
In June 2023, Tennessee State University made the historic announcement that it would become the first historically Black college or university to offer men’s ice hockey at the collegiate level as part of their dedication to expanding athletic opportunities for students and fostering diversity and inclusion.
The official hockey season starts in September, with the pre-season and training camp beginning in August.
“This is also huge for the HBCU because it is going to encourage them to also expand into other sports that African-Americans aren’t really involved in and not just African-American, but people of all minority-based backgrounds,” Abel said. “It will essentially expand sports culture as a whole.”
