Filipino-Canadian NHL player Matt Dumba blazes trail of diversity in ice hockey as sport explodes with Asian talent
- Dumba, who is half Filipino, is helping break the mould when it comes to ice hockey players and the NHL’s growing diversity
- The Minnesota Wild defenceman is known for his hard-nosed style of play on the ice and welcoming personality off
Matt Dumba has mostly good memories from playing ice hockey as a kid growing up in the Canadian city of Calgary. Located in the landlocked province of Alberta, it’s known for oil patches, cattle, chilly winters, and also for producing some top notch hockey players.
Dumba was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, the province to the east of Alberta, but his father moved the family west when a job came up a few years after Dumba was born. The Dumba family were excited to get out of the Prairies and into the city, but the first neighbourhood they moved into didn’t actually have a hockey team Dumba could play on.
“Then the following year, when we moved again, I missed try-outs,” said the 25-year-old hard-nosed defenceman who plays for the National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild. “So I got put on a lower team and had to work my way up through the years.”
Dumba’s father Charles knew Matt and his younger brother Kyle, a goalie who last played for the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology’s university team, loved the game, so the first point of business was a massive backyard rink.
“I just remember playing all the time,” said Dumba, who is back home in Calgary while the NHL is paused due to the coronavirus. “Next goal wins, over and over. And you’re always playing in the Stanley Cup, I can remember going in on shoot-outs (on Kyle) and picking a different player to be every shot.”