CORAL SPRINGS — Two weeks after the Florida Panthers were eliminated in the Stanley Cup Finals, veteran forward Anthony Duclair is giving back to the community.
That was the goal when he launched the Anthony Duclair Foundation in February to reach out to children who have experienced racism in hockey and to educate others to prevent it.
Duclair held a youth camp last week and the Canadian will hold another camp in Montreal July 10-14.
“I made a promise to South Florida back in February,” Duclair said. “That was something I wanted to do. It was one of many ideas that I have.”
After finalizing the plans right before the Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Finals, 30 youths of diverse backgrounds were treated to a camp packed with hockey, team-building activities and guest speakers who stressed the importance of being a good teammate and respecting everyone.
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“I was going to be here regardless of what happened with the season, but I’m glad it all worked out,” Duclair said. “My goal is to grow the game as much as I can and to see all of the faces, the smiles, and the enjoyment from the kids has been awesome. We also want to teach them a few lessons.”
Hockey has been a predominantly white sport since its inception, with nearly 84% of the NHL’s workforce white according to an internal study done by the league in 2022.
Duclair, who is Black, seeks to change that and wants to make sure Black children playing hockey know they are not alone.
“I just feel like hockey needs more color and we want to reach out to different types of communities,” Duclair said. “Not only in the United States but around the world. I just feel like, especially from personal experience when I was a kid, I was missing a lot of that and it’s actually grown a lot since then, so it’s nice to see. I just tried to do my part to continue to add to that.”
After a week of teaching the kids those values on and off the ice, that same mindset has trickled down to them as well.
“I would tell them if you want to, you should definitely go after it because you should always follow your dreams,” said one of the campers, Salem Bradford, 11, of Melbourne. “I would really, really like it if you stayed with hockey or any other sport.”
The commitment Duclair, a third-round pick of the New York Rangers in 2013, has shown to the South Florida community rubbed off on the kids well before he stepped on the ice at camp. Prior to his foundation’s launch in February, Duclair has made frequent appearances at youth hockey events during the summer while backing countless initiatives to support diversity through the Hockey Diversity Alliance and the Panthers.
And he has become a role model to many young fans.
“One little girl told me she wanted to be just like me when she grows up,” Duclair said. “Words like that, it’s very humbling. When you see stuff like that and when you see their reactions and when they see us you see their big eyes pop out of their heads, it’s awesome. I just want to do everything in my power to help them.”
Panthers aiding Duclair’s cause
Duclair has not been alone in this endeavor.
The Panthers donated $100,000 to Duclair’s foundation when it launched, with many of his teammates in attendance that day. His teammates continued to support him during the camp, with Ryan Lomberg making an in-person appearance and Matthew Tkachuk joining in via FaceTime two days after finishing third in MVP voting at the NHL Awards in Nashville.
His teammates and peers watched him assemble the foundation after he sustained an Achilles injury last June, with the front office backing him the entire way, and they are proud to see what he has accomplished so far.
”Everything Anthony said, I can tell you that he lives it,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. ”We watch it, we are with him every day. I’ve watched him through his rehab, how he’s started to try to get this foundation, the work he has put in, the energy and the sincere conviction and I could just say that I’m proud.”
Duclair’s vision for his foundation stretches far beyond the camp. He plans to spend much of his offseason achieving those goals and giving back to the community.
“Honestly, the sky’s the limit,” Duclair said. “I’m taking it day by day and I have a great team behind me that has given me great ideas all the time. I’m looking to get into communities, get into schools and possibly build some synthetic hockey rinks down in South Florida.
“I don’t want to give too much away and I don’t want to jinx it, but I got a couple of cool ideas I might run by in the next few months. Hopefully, I can announce it before our next training camp.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Panthers’ Anthony Duclair helping young hockey players deal with racism
