“Seeing the Cup in person was just unbelievable,” Seth said.

He went on to star on youth teams when the family returned to Dallas and at the elite United States National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich., winning gold medals at the 2011 and 2012 World U18 Championship. (Caleb, 16, has been invited to the program’s 2013 tryouts.)

The N.H.L., mired in a lockout and struggling to renew fan interest, would probably welcome the marketing potential of a young African-American star, especially if Jones were to play, say, in Brooklyn when the Islanders move there in 2015.

Seth, whose mother, Amy, is white, said he would prefer that race not be part of the conversation when it comes to his hockey career.

“I don’t want to be looked at as an African-American, you know?” he said. “I want to be looked at as someone who has good character, and people know me for the person I am, not my color.”

Still, he said he understood why people asked about race. “Anytime I or anyone can help to get kids into the sport of hockey — or any sport, as a matter of fact — it’s huge,” he said.

But he added that being that kind of role model “can put a lot of weight on your shoulders.”

In 1958, Willie O’Ree of the Boston Bruins became the first black player to skate in an N.H.L. game, and only a few others — all Canadian — appeared in the league over the next 20 years. But as Canadian demographics changed, more and more black players made N.H.L. rosters, and by the mid-1990s, it was no longer especially noteworthy to see black athletes in N.H.L. uniforms. Grant Fuhr won four Stanley Cups in five years as an Edmonton Oilers goaltender and was Team Canada’s goalie in the 1980s. Donald Brashear, born in Indiana but raised in Quebec, was one of the most feared fighters of the 1990s. After 15 seasons and 516 goals with the Calgary Flames, Jarome Iginla is one of the most popular players in Canada.