Some of Minnesota's most diverse girls hockey programs have seen almost all non-white families stop attending practices, while others have ceased operations altogether as ICE raids have families afraid and organizations concerned for the safety of participants.
Minnesota is a state known for comprehensive hockey programming for many diverse populations. This includes inclusive programming like Minnesota Diversified Hockey and Mosaic Hockey Collective.
Another organization in the "State of Hockey," the Minneapolis-St. Paul Starwhals, a girls hockey co-op between three youth hockey organizations, have made great strides in the Twin Cities in making hockey more inclusive and welcoming to girls, specifically girls from Indigenous, Somali, Filipino, and Chinese backgrounds.
According to a report this week, however, by Minnesota's Star Tribune, since the United State's government began ICE raids targeting non-white communities in Minneapolis, with a specific focus on Minnesota's Somali community, the Starwhals have been struggling to keep girls on the ice.
According to the Star Tribune's report, attendance has dropped at practices, and the on-ice demographics have drastically changed.
“All the kids on the ice right now are white, and this is about half of these two teams,” Starwhals communications director Bria Florell told the Star Tribune. “The ice is empty right now. We’re feeling that for sure.”
The Starwhals are not the only Minnesota organization seeing decreased attendance right now.
DinoMights Cancel All Games And Practices
In order to protect families and participants, another Minnesota minor hockey organization known as the DinoMights has cancelled all on-ice activity.
DinoMights serves a predominantly non-white group of youth in St. Paul.
The organization first announced they'd be stopping services on the same day an ICE agent fatally shot and killed ICU nurse and American citizen Alex Pretti, the second killing this month by an ICE agent of a US citizen in the Twin Cities.
"Today in Minneapolis another person was shot and killed by Immigration Customs Enforcement," Scott Harman, DinoMights executive director wrote in a statement. "I want to be very clear that I, as Executive Director, condemn the violence that the current surge in ICE has brought to the neighborhoods served by Dino Mights. The stated goal of making our neighborhoods safer is not being achieved. On the contrary, these actions are interrupting programs like DinoMights from providing youth development activities of all kinds. It is currently dangerous to go about our activities as usual."
ICE Concerns Hurting Progress In Hockey
“We have more kids playing hockey in Minnesota than any other state and it’s not even close, but the vast majority of players in the state are white,” Minnesota Wild Senior Director of Community Relations and Hockey Partnerships Wayne Petersen said in a story on the Starwhals in 2023.
The story was highlighting the efforts of organizations like the Starwhals that were bringing more diverse populations, specifically immigrant families, to the sport in Minnesota.
With fear and concern for safety now keeping many of these families away from what was once considered their safe place in the Minneapolis-St. Paul community, the efforts to reduce barriers and bring more girls and youth to hockey in Minnesota are at risk.