It’s no wonder Al Montoya returned to the University of Michigan during COVID-19 to finish his undergraduate sociology degree.
The former goaltender, who backstopped the Wolverines to a Frozen Four appearance in 2003 and the first Cuban-American to play in the NHL in 2009, learned the importance of education from his grandparents and mother, who fled Prime Minister Fidel Castro’s Communist Cuba in 1963.
Watching his mom earn a medical degree while raising four boys with support from her family had a profound impact on Montoya, a second-generation immigrant studying American Immigration.
“Education makes a generational difference,” said Montoya, who met his wife Annie at the university after he led the United States to its first gold medal at the 2004 world junior championships in Finland. “I want my kids (Camlia, 8, Henry, 6, and Nicolas, 2) to see that same work ethic, that same determination to go back to school so they can do it and they can keep it going.”
Montoya’s historic step as the NHL’s first Spanish-speaking player during a nine-year career and now as the first director of community outreach for the Dallas Stars (more than 40% of Dallas’ population is of Hispanic descent) highlights the significant strides of Hispanics and Latinos in the game but also shines a light on how far his underrepresented community has to go.
In Detroit, for example, nearly 8% of the city’s 637,601 population (55,289) are Hispanic or Latino but only 140 children from the predominantly Latino community in southwest Detroit signed up at the 30-acre Clark Park for the inner-city hockey program, which partners with USA Hockey and the NHL.
(The Red Wings outfit teams with new equipment and bought a Zamboni for the outdoor rink and Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera refurbished one of the ballfields where Western High School has won 13 straight city baseball titles under coach Juan Sanchez).
“Our numbers are going up from 20 to 70 to 140 kids from the neighborhood,” said Anthony Benavides, the director of the non-profit Clark Park Coalition. “We try to level the playing field by giving them hours on ice with coaches. Many of them already play baseball and soccer so they’ll try three sports. That’s the way to do it.”
Drew Ansley, pastor of Refuge Church in the heart of Mexicantown, says Clark Park allows members of his diverse congregation to be exposed to new sports and perhaps find the “next Al Montoya.”
“Many underprivileged families can’t afford to drive 45 minutes to the suburbs for practice,” Ansley said. “Anthony (Benavides) gives us the keys and people take care of each other. There’s a dignity to taking responsibility for your neighbors.”
At the NHL level, Montoya points to a number of positive developments as the league’s Hispanic Heritage Month wraps up on Friday.
On the ice, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, the son of a Mexican-American mother, was one of three players selected to represent the United States in the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Off the ice, Bill Guerin, the son of a Nicaraguan mother and American father, is the general manager of the up-and-coming Minnesota Wild.
“I didn’t grow up in a hockey family,” Montoya said. “I was raised by a mother who was a Cuban refugee so there was no lineage, no path for me to follow. I had to learn on my own. I was this Spanish-speaking player looking up into this hockey world and didn’t see anyone like me. That’s why representation does matter.”
The sixth overall pick by the New York Rangers in 2004, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Montoya posted a career record of 67 wins, 49 losses, 24 ties with a 2.65 GAV and .908 save percentage with the Phoenix Coyotes, New York Islanders, Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers.
After three years as the No. 1 goaltender in Ann Arbor (86-29-8 career record with a 2.36 GAV and the same NHL save percentage of .908), he wound up playing behind three potential future Hall of Fame goalies: Henrik Lundqvist (459 wins), Carey Price (360 wins) and Roberto Luongo (489 wins).
“Would my career have looked different if I had the same support system as a lot of other players? Maybe, maybe not,” the 36-year-old Montoya said. “I was blessed to have the career I did and I have no regrets. Look what the Rangers did with Lundqvist. It didn’t matter what kind of team they had he was going to bail them out.”
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Montoya said he faced some racist incidents from fans, players and the media in his hockey career. One time when he was young, he had to ask his mom what a pejorative term meant from an opposing player. Another time, a TV host used a fake, overdramatic Spanish accent to introduce Montoya.
“Ninety-nine percent of my playing career was just endless dreams and memories but I remember those odd times when people were ignorant or didn’t understand our culture and tried to put me down,” Montoya said. “I think you have to tell those stories too. We always ask why there aren’t more minorities in sport and why everyone looks the same. It’s on me and others to break down those barriers.
“This game we play is Caucasian dominated. It’s 94 percent Caucasian. For better or worse, we need to grow the game. There’s days in the office when I’ve talked to other minorities and ask, ‘Why am I doing this? And am I making any kind of change?’ My thought to them is, people like us didn’t exist in these places before. The opportunity to grow and develop as minorities in sport is so important.”
Montoya’s trailblazing role and the publicity surrounding the NHL’s celebration of Hispanic heritage have piqued the interest of Red Wings prospect Donovan Sebrango, whose father Eduardo played for the Cuban national soccer team and with Montreal and Vancouver in the Major Soccer League.
“I remember being around the dressing room when he played in Montreal,” said Sebrango, who was raised by his mother Kim after his parents divorced when he was young. “It’s one of those things you don’t really talk about unless you’re asked but it’s pretty cool and a big responsibility to be one of the few players who have that background and can represent the community.”
A third-round draft pick by the Red Wings in 2020 and now playing with the team’s minor-league affiliate in Grand Rapids, the 19-year-old Sebrango said he was asked about his Cuban-Canadian background while growing up and playing hockey in Ottawa, Kingston and Kitchener and it’s now something he’s “interested in learning more about” and telling others about the “competitiveness” of playing hockey.
Montoya says he’s fortunate to have a platform to influence others and he “still gets chills” when he thinks of his grandfather’s sacrifices.
“My grandfather was 45 when he came to this country,” Montoya said. “His family had been in Cuba for 500 years but he left it all behind for his grandchildren, who he hadn’t even met yet. He sold strawberries here and worked at McDonalds to give us freedom. It’s part of the Hispanic-Latino culture but it’s American culture too. We’re sons of immigrants who fled their country to give their kids a better life.
“I believe every kid should have opportunities for that reason. At the end of the day, it’s about being there for the kids because it’s the best sport in the world. We’re starting to see those small gains, and maybe in a few years, there will be more minorities in the front office or more minorities on the ice.”
mfalkner@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @falkner