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Amid Blackface and Abuse Allegations, Hockey Wonders Why Young Canadians Don’t Play

Jeff Mcintosh/CP, via Associated Press

Akim Aliu figures he was 12 or 13 years old the first time he heard a racial slur directed toward him at a hockey rink.

“It starts really early,” he said. “With parents I had a couple of incidents where people would yell racial swears while I was playing. I was old enough to understand exactly what was being said.”

Insults would soon come from opponents and opposing fans.

“You notice really quickly that you stand out when you’re a minority player,” said Aliu, a Nigerian-Ukrainian who went on to become a second-round selection of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2007 N.