A Role Model, On and Off the Ice

Taylor Ewing’s ’26 hockey journey started like every other little Canadian boy’s—snow-suited up, tiny skates laced, and raring to spend hours wiping out on the nearest frozen pond. “My parents wanted to put me in soccer, but I was way more interested in hockey,” he says. “My mom didn’t know how to skate, but she brought me out to the pond and found a way to teach me anyway,” he recalls.

All the way from the Canadian PeeWees to the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), Ewing is one of the few Black players from the Canadian Maritimes to play collegiate hockey in the USA, and as such, he’s become a role model for other young Black players in Atlantic Canada.

“He is a hard-working person who strives for excellence every day,” says Coach Seamus Gregory. “As a two-sport athlete (Men’s hockey and lacrosse), Taylor is active within our community and understands the commitment it takes to be a successful student athlete. He is a credit to himself and his family.”

Ewing was recently featured in an article on NHL.com about the trail he’s blazing. “It was pretty shocking at first to find out that the NHL even knew who I was,” he laughs.

As a Black athlete in a predominately white sport, Ewing feels he’s “always going to be looked at completely differently.” But, as league rosters continue to get more racially diverse, Ewing hopes people will start to see hockey as a sport of talented athletes with different racial identities cheered on by a growing and more diverse fan base.

Ewing is majoring in business management and looking forward to a career in real estate. Unless the major leagues come calling. “Well…you never know,” he laughs, at the suggestion. “Aim for the stars and shoot high, right?”

“My parents always taught me from a young age that hockey is a very tough sport, and, at the end of the day, only very few get to make a living at it,” he says, “so it’s important to get your education and always have a plan B!” Spoken like a true role model.