ALL ICED OUT

What's the whitest game in professional team sports? Hockey, right? In terms of image, probably. But a little inspection reveals that ice hockey isn't nearly as white as the playing surface. Who do you think is the National Hockey League's leading scorer (in points and goals) through the 2001 portion of this season? Calgary Flame Jarome Iginla, a black man. Who are the game's premier fighters? Three of the game's toughest and most penalized players are brothers from the Great White North—the Florida Panthers' Peter Worrell, the Philadelphia Flyers' Donald Brashear and the Edmonton Oilers' Georges Laraque. And perhaps most interestingly, Laraque's team, the very same one that launched Wayne Gretzky to greatness, currently has three black players on its roster. Besides Laraque they are Anson Carter and Mike Grier, and all three are amongst the sport's best young players.