Yesterday the Lighting’s have made NHL history by starting an all-Black line in a game against the Florida Panthers.

The team started three Black men that are forwards in their regular-season finale against the Panthers on Monday night. This was the absolute first time that has ever happened in the NHL. Daniel Walcott, Mathieu Joseph, and Gemel Smith are the first three Black men once to play on the ice at once, this is important because other Black children, Black boys, Black girls can feel like the is some representation for them in the sport.

For this Game Daniel Walcott had already been feeling so excited to be in his first NHL game, it was even more exciting to him to see how his debut would happen.

(Associated Press/Reuters/Getty Images)

Tampa Bay’s coach Jon Cooper say’s “First of all, they’re all in the NHL for a reason, they deserve to be here and have worked their tails off. To have them all together, they had a little chemistry. Moving forward in the league, you hope it isn’t a story any more and will be the norm. It was a pretty cool moment for all those guys.”

The starting lineup was applauded by the panthers, Anthony Duclair that is Black and a player for the Panthers took notice in the locker room and was moved. He said, “that’s great to see, the way that the NHL is moving forward, it’s great to see for those guys and I’m sure it was a special night for them.”

Mathieu Joseph seemed to be very elated he has this to say, “It was great, man, a step in the right direction. It was fun to have some progress and it was great to see and I was glad I was part of it. … Any players of color in this league want to showcase to our families or other people of color. I thank the coaching staff for doing this.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s Mathieu Joseph, Gemel Smith and Daniel Walcott became the @NHL‘s first all-Black starting forward line.

Head coach Jon Cooper:

“Moving forward in the league, you hope it isn’t a story anymore and will be the norm.”pic.twitter.com/D5Mxzxzgqb

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 11, 2021

Daniel Walcott hopes that this will give interest in hockey to young Black kids. He said “This is a whirlwind of emotion, a long time coming,” Walcott said. “To get into that starting lineup was great. … Coop did something really special here to promote this for young kids.”

Change is a beautiful thing to see!