Brothers George and Darril Fosty have re-released their book Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925 Though Willie O'Ree did not become the first black NHL hockey player until 1958, blacks playing hockey dates back to the 1870s, nearly as long as the great game itself. Twenty-five years before the negro baseball leagues in the United States and twenty-two years before the birth of the National Hockey League, the Coloured League helped to pioneer not only black athletics in Canada but the entire emerging sport of ihockey. The authors argue that the black contributions to hockey were conveniently ignored or simply stolen by whites who observed such elements as the "flopping" goalie and the slap shot. That's right. The authors suggest a 3'6" goalie named Henry "Braces" Franklin was the first goalie to drop down to the ice on his knees, back when standard rules prohibited such tactics. And a fellow named Eddi...