Kolesar taking events in stride

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/06/2020 (2136 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Keegan Kolesar long ago buried the painful memory in his mind. But recent events, in both the sports world and the real world, brought it back to the forefront.

As a black professional hockey player, the Winnipeg-born Kolesar has experienced racism first-hand. Now 23 and a member of the Vegas Golden Knights organization, Kolesar figures he was about 11, playing in a minor-league tournament outside the city, when the colour of his skin became an issue to a white opponent who hurled a slur in his direction.

Kolesar initially ignored it, but mentioned the incident to his father, K.D. Williams, a former pro football player whose career included a season with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, following the game. The advice from pops: Don’t let it get to you.

“People can say whatever word they want; it’s how you take it. If you take it negatively, it gives them power. If you don’t, the words don’t have any meaning,” Kolesar told me Monday. “You need a really good support system to be able to cope with that. With my dad being a pro athlete and a person of colour, he made it a lot easier for me.”

Kolesar may have stayed silent to the bigot at the time, but now he’s encouraged to see athletes using their voices to denounce such hate. Numerous hockey players, many of them white, have spoken up over the past week following the videotaped killing of a black man, George Floyd, by Minneapolis police officers.

Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler was among the first to use his platform, starting on Twitter and then in a revealing 45-minute live chat with media last week. Several of the NHL’s biggest stars, including Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid, have done likewise.

There have been widespread public protests and calls for change across North America, including right here in Kolesar’s backyard. More than 15,000 people showed up for a peaceful Justice 4 Black Lives rally Friday evening. Kolesar didn’t attend in person — he cited the potential for things to “go south” as they have at similar events in the U.S. as the main deterrent — but observed from a distance while dining downtown with his mother, Corrinne.

“Just to see it going by, you’re proud of the people in this city who cared,” said the right-winger.

“You need a really good support system to be able to cope with that. With my dad being a pro athlete and a person of colour, he made it a lot easier for me.” – Keegan Kolesar

“It wasn’t just people of colour, but old people, young people, children, all colours, white, black, coming together for a common goal. That right there gives you a lot of hope and makes me very proud to be from Winnipeg.

He applauded Monday’s creation of a new coalition called The Hockey Diversity Alliance and its stated goal of eradicating racism and intolerance in the sport. It’s the brainchild of seven current and former NHL players, including ex-Jets forward Evander Kane.

“I think it’s really cool to see other players in the league speak so highly of people of colour, minorities. You don’t think people don’t care, but to see people go to that extent and really push the envelope on the issues, not just in hockey but society as well, proves there are good people out there and change is coming,” said Kolesar.

“It’s sad something like this had to happen for people to come to the table, but a change like this is going to be positive not just for hockey, but for the rest of the world. I know Evander has always spoken about the changes that need to be made in hockey and society. It’s awesome to see others feel the same way and they’re taking steps to change.”

It’s not going to be easy. Kolesar said he’s been avoiding social media over the past week because of how much ugliness is still out there, while also contemplating what he can do on a personal level.

“Just to see it going by, you’re proud of the people in this city who cared.” – Keegan Kolesar

“I don’t want people to think I’m not trying to get involved because I don’t care, but I just think there’s so much chaos in the world right now, I just want to take a second to think about it myself and what I want to do and how I’m going to change things,” he said.

As for hockey, Kolesar is in a bit of an awkward spot right now, unsure if NHL return-to-play plans will proceed and, if they do, what that means for him personally.

In addition to working on his golf game — I chatted with him Monday over the phone between shots at Larters at St. Andrews Golf & Country Club — Kolesar has recently resumed skating at The Rink complex, as he normally does during the off-season, while awaiting further instructions from the Golden Knights.

After spending the first two-and-a-half seasons of his pro career in the AHL, Kolesar made his big-league debut Jan. 11 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that selected him in the third round (69th overall) in 2015, then traded him two years later for a draft pick.

“We were in San Antonio (with his AHL team, the Chicago Wolves). My dad was there with me. I got the call, so me and him got on the same plane and flew to Vegas. It was just a roller-coaster of emotions, it was so fun. I didn’t get much sleep but it was all adrenaline for sure,” said Kolesar.

“It’s sad something like this had to happen for people to come to the table, but a change like this is going to be positive not just for hockey, but for the rest of the world.” – Keegan Kolesar

He played 12:06 that night, registering a shot on goal in a 3-0 loss to the Blue Jackets. He was returned to the AHL days later, then suffered an injury, which he’d just worked his way back from when the pandemic shut down hockey in mid-March.

Adding insult to that injury is the fact Kolesar had just been recalled again by the Golden Knights.

“I had joined the team in Minnesota. A week after that we were going to be in Winnipeg. I was really looking forward to that,” he said. Although he did return to his hometown, it wasn’t to face the Jets as he hoped.

Disappointing, for sure. But as recent events have demonstrated, some things are bigger than sports. And Kolesar is taking it all in stride, hoping the world might be a slightly better place the next time he laces up his skates for a game.

 

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg