For its final stop on a national eight-city tour, the NHL’s American Legacy Black Hockey History Bus sits parked outside the Canadian embassy in D.C. this week.

The mobile museum is part of the league’s “Hockey is for Everyone” campaign, which for the first time is shifting its focus to emphasize racial diversity in the predominantly white sport. The February tour marks Black History Month while honoring past players and looking ahead to the next generation of young men and women in the game.

There are roughly 25 black players out of the more than 700 players currently on NHL game rosters, though league officials say there is strong minority representation at youth levels.

“Today’s players of color no longer represent the exception in hockey, they instead represent an emerging and inevitable trend reflective of our broader population,” according to a recent NHL report on the need to make the sport more inclusive, co-authored by Kimberly Davis, executive vice president of social impact, growth and legislative affairs.

But despite stars like P.K. Subban, a Toronto-born 29-year-old whose parents are from Jamaica and Wayne Simmonds, an Afro-Canadian player who began competing in the league in 2008, the league remains dominated by white players and spectators.

“The Jackie Robinson Of Hockey”

The 525-square-foot mobile museum will also highlight trailblazers like Willie O’Ree, the NHL’s first black player who took to the ice and broke the color barrier in 1958. O’Ree played for the Boston Bruins, years before the Civil Rights Act was made law, and paved the way for black hockey players in the NHL.

“At the time, I just knew that there were going to be more not only players of color, but black players in the upcoming years,” said O’Ree.

With only 3 percent of black players in the NHL today, O’Ree said that trend didn’t take off as he expected. And if it weren’t for the fact that the Bruins didn’t know about a run-in O’Ree had with a puck two years earlier that caused him to lose sight in his right eye, he doubts he would have been given the chance to play in the league after all.

“Besides being blind and being black, I was faced with four things: racism, prejudice, bigotry and ignorance.”

The 84-year-old from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, has been traveling alongside the cross-country mobile museum tour. And while in the District on Wednesday evening, O’Ree will be honored at the Canadian embassy for his contributions over the 21 years he played professional hockey. Officials will also announce pending legislation to award O’Ree with the Congressional Gold Medal.

But, O’Ree said, he still remembers the days when the sport wasn’t so kind to him and he found himself getting into a lot of physical fights.

“Besides being blind and being black, I was faced with four things: racism, prejudice, bigotry and ignorance,” O’Ree said. “There wasn’t a game that went by that I wasn’t exposed to it, not only by players on the opposition, but fans in the stands.”

USA Hockey only recently began collecting data on player participation by race, so it will take some time to show if the long-segregated professional sport is truly making inroads.

It’s an honor to have a trailblazer like Mike Marson, the second black player in the @NHL, as part of our team history and alumni group.
Mike’s story helps remind us the struggle people of color have had in our sport and continue to endure to this day. #ALLCAPS #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/EPwOCPaN9h

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 26, 2019

The Future Of Diversity In Hockey

In his roles as NHL Diversity Ambassador and Director of Youth Development over the last two decades, O’Ree has helped establish 39 local grassroots hockey programs and inspired countless young people to play the game in its many forms. He said he’s proud the league is celebrating black history and has seen more progress in the kids playing hockey today, than over his two decades on the job.

“We’ve come a long way since when I broke into the league. There’s more kids of color playing hockey today than ever before, and more girls,” said O’Ree. “So, we’re going in the right direction.”

While youth participation in ice hockey in North America has grown over the last decade, the NHL report suggested increasing the sport’s racial and ethnic diversity through cultural competency education.

“Engaging current players, coaches, parents, and referees in better understanding cultural identities and differences will help build a community with the attitude to welcome greater diversity,” the report mentions. A renewed focus on diversity, the league says, will lead to closer relationships and deeper engagements with the sport’s growing minority fan base and recruitment of a more diverse workforce in hockey.

For years, people have had various ideas about why there weren’t more black children playing hockey, like the high equipment costs or the abundance of children playing who don’t look like them. But, O’Ree said, he tells children of color that if they’re truly interested in playing the sport, they will overcome the inevitable obstacles and perform well, as long as they work hard and have their minds set.

“If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right,” O’Ree said.

This story originally appeared on WAMU.