Most minority coaching opportunities in the NHL have come in the crease. Fred Brathwaite (for the New York Islanders), Sudarshan Maharaj (Anaheim Ducks), and Frantz Jean (Tamp Bay Lightning) are all goaltending coaches and visible minorities. Nigel Kirwan, a video coach with the Lightning, has a purview that stretches beyond the goal, but the only minority coach currently standing behind an NHL bench is Paul Jerrard of the Calgary Flames.

The 52-year-old Jerrard — whose playing days included just five NHL games, all the Minnesota North Stars — has a coaching career that stretches back two decades. I recently caught up with Jerrard to find out about his life in the game of hockey and ask what it would mean for the NHL to have a black head coach.

Sportsnet: How has the black experience in hockey changed throughout your years in the game?

Jerrard: It has certainly evolved and come a long way. You see more and more people of colour in the National Hockey League and doing things in the sport. I grew up in Winnipeg; there still was quite a bit of racism there. I had to endure a little bit of it, but I don’t think it was quite a bad as what people like Willie O’Ree had to endure when he first started out.

How did you end up choosing hockey over more “traditionally black” sports like baseball, football and basketball?

I did play all those other sports at some point in time. [What drew me in was] the allure of growing up watching Hockey Night in Canada. Every night it was a big event. When I was young, there were only three channels. My dad loved the game and I enjoyed playing the game. It kind of just grew and at the end of the day, I just kept getting better and better. The game has been good to me.