“The group mainly focuses on kind of just growing the hockey community, both boys and girls, and they want to focus on just growing it from a younger age aspect,” Brinson said last week in Oxford, Ohio. “A lot of kids, when they're growing up, they kind of play soccer or lacrosse or all those sports, and ice hockey kind of sticks out to a lot of people with rinks not always being close by.” 

The group discusses what they see as barriers to entry within the sport, as well as some of the ways hockey is marketed toward their target audience in the U.S. and in Canada. Taking the traditional ways the sport is marketed, the Power Players create new and innovative ways to reach a younger and broader audience. Touching on the pillars of community engagement, marketing, and social content, the NHL Power Players play a crucial role in helping bridge the gap between the younger and older generations.  Taking inspiration from the NFL and their highly popular NFL on Nickelodeon concept, the Power Players team created their own version, invoking a popular television show on Disney Channel, “Big City Greens.”  

“It’s just like asking what we knew would be fun and what would make the game more interesting from a kid's perspective,” said Brinson. “Because watching a puck kind of going back and forth isn’t the most interesting thing for a lot of people, especially if they don't know the game that well.” 

Although the experience of working with the Power Players initiative has been worthwhile to her growth as a young athlete, the experience of meeting new and diverse people through the program has been priceless. 

“The hockey community is really small, but just meeting all these people from Washington and Toronto and hearing their stories was really interesting.”

Brinson’s appetite for discovering ways to change the game led her to Black Girl Hockey Club. The BGHC is a non-profit organization with a focus on making hockey more inclusive for Black women, their families, friends and allies. The non-profit awards scholarships to help subsidize the cost of playing hockey for Black girls. The organization also hosts meetups in a variety of different cities to help build community for those looking for BIPOC hockey fans. 

A former BGHC scholarship winner, Brinson remembers her first meetup with Black Girl Hockey Club, and the impact the trip had on her.  

“They got us together in Washington, and we watched a couple Washington Capitals games, which was really fun,” Brinson recalled. “They also brought us to the National Black History Museum, and it was just meeting other people and just learning more about other people's stories, which was really interesting.” 

The community of Black Girl Hockey Club has allowed Brinson to connect with her peers in ways she never thought possible. Being able to feel seen by her teammates and competitors and having an unspoken bond with companions and rivals alike has invigorated Brinson to continue her inspiring work.