Black Aces: Essential Stories from Hockey's Black Trailblazers

by Julian McKenzie

Genres: Sports, Hockey, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published February 3, 2026

Reviews

[Tom Zalatnai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel very privileged to have had the chance to read this book early. Julian is a great writer, we knew that already from his years as a journalist. But this book takes it to the next level, with so many great stories, interviews, and historical snapshots (or slap shots, I guess?) that left me, admittedly not even a big hockey person, absolutely absorbed the whole way through. It’s a fantastic exploration of the black hockey players throughout history who’ve helped shape the game we know and love today. Whether you’re a hockey fan or just love a good deep dive into the lives of impressive and important people, you’re gonna want to pick this one up as soon as you can. Pre-order it ASAP and thank me later.

[Vanessa]

there are stories in here I hope we continue to tell -- often and loudly and until these types of stories become disqualifying: conn smythe saying he'd pay someone 10k to turn Herb Carnegie white, admitting that the only thing keeping Carnegie off the Leafs was that he was Black. that 60+ years later Carnegie wept for the child he was hearing that and knowing his dream was over because of some old racist whose name is still synonymous with playoff mvp.

mckenzie writes "racism, of course, does not define the Carnegie family, but it ultimately plays a significant role in Herb's story." this is something I wish more fans and especially journalists who write and talk about hockey understood. too often those stories become the main or only stories written about Black players rather than treated as a piece of the story that colors the rest of it. mckenzie strikes a good balance here.

I loved the stories in this book and found myself pulling up articles or videos mckenzie touched on. this is a pop history, so the sources cited section wasn't extensive, but as an avid article reader, particularly for some of the athletes mentioned, it was easy to know what articles mckenzie was referencing. its biggest downfall was the poor editing. I found myself lamenting multiple times that it hadn't gotten a more thorough edit -- even a simple SPAG edit -- because it deserved one. the structure was also unclear: stories were not in chronological order, nor did they build off of one another with a clear link between person. instead it seemed to start out with the players readers would likely be most familiar with, lumping 3 of the 4 women together near the back, and then slowly petering out with significantly shorter chapters on the final people. I think particularly in the chapters on Duante' Abercrombie and Kelsey Koelzer they suffered from the book coming so early -- TSU's team debuts this fall, and both were still early in the part of their stories their chapter opted to focus on. the fact Kevin Weekes' chapter was so brief was more baffling.

still, I think the book is absolutely worth reading. the bones are there, and I hope it will usher in more of this storytelling. I think of the final chapter and Tony McKegney not knowing he was featured in a Smithsonian institute exhibit. we should be telling these stories now while we can still interview the people they're about and so that they can get their flowers and their recognition while they're here.

[Leah Kleinfeld · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very interesting content. However, I almost entirely missed the excellent stories being told because of the sheer number of grammatical errors and typos and the clunky, elementary writing. This book is fascinating but needed a second (and ninth, and tenth) draft.

[Daniel J. Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A welcome addition to the hockey history shelves and great first book from a talented hockey writer.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julian is fantastic at his job and this book is important for Hockey fans. The contributions to the sport that minority players have given to the sport should not and can not be overlooked.

[Enid Wray]

An interesting title for the hockey fan in our life.