Too Colourful for the league

As relevant and moving as it was in 2001, Gemini-nominated Too Colourful for the League, was the first film to bring to light the unknown stories of Black hockey players in the early history of Canada’s most beloved sport. A surprise to even current players of the time like Habs enforcer George Laraque, the film follows the efforts to nominate legendary Black hockey player Herb Carnegie into the Hockey Hall of Fame. During the 1940s, Carnegie was widely acknowledged as one of the best hockey players in the world, playing alongside Jean Beliveau for the Quebec Aces, yet unlike his peers, he was never allowed to play in the NHL because of a long-time colour barrier. Covering the 1930s to the end of the century, the film highlights the resilience and determination of early Black players in this white-dominated sport.