This past weekend, Besa Gordon stopped by the National Hockey League's United by Hockey Mobile Museum while attending the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic Legacy event. The traveling museum, which started its seven-month tour on October 14, invites fans to learn more about the NHL's future generation, all while checking out hockey memorabilia from various players, interactive videos, virtual reality, and podcast recordings.

Additionally, the Museum focuses heavily on the growing diversity of the NHL and how the sport is inclusive to everyone. Accompanying Gordon at the museum is Kwame Mason, filmmaker and director of the film Soul on Ice. This ice hockey documentary focuses on the history of black ice hockey players. Mason explains to Gordon what representation within the sport means to him.

"It's really important because if you see it, you can be in it. One of the biggest things for me personally is the next generation of kids who love the game of hockey and want to be a part of it," Mason said. "They need to see these people because they can see that they are not just at low levels, they are very high-up position people in the world of hockey, and when you learn about their stories, it might inspire someone to want to follow in their footsteps."

Mason also highlighted how hockey is an experience everyone should participate in.

"You expand your horizons by taking chances and going and seeing different things," Mason said. "Just because you don't see as many people that look like you in a space doesn't mean you're not allowed to be in that space."

Check out the full video of Gordon and Mason at the United by Hockey Mobile Museum above.
Photos by Seattle photographer Jordan Somers on behalf of Converge Media.