Ho-Sang does wonder if in a very white hockey world, he isn’t looked upon differently because of his colour.

He had some difficulties with his general manager, Warren Rychel, and others in Windsor and worries about what has been said about him.

“I think colour definitely plays a factor in perception,” said Ho-Sang. “People watch my games and are very critical. When I start dangling, my GM calls me a Harlem Globetrotter. Why am I a Harlem Globetrotter? Analogies get related to basketball all the time with me. I don’t play basketball. I’ve never played basketball. I’m a hockey player. Why are they doing that?

“When I do anything, I’m just another black kid with attitude. I think I get misunderstood because these guys want to figure me out without talking to me and try to come up with every single reason why there’s something wrong with me. With all this going on, the only place I can win this argument is on the ice.”

But Ho-Sang is bright enough to know that if he gets there, when he gets there, he won’t just be another player — he can’t just be another player.

Is this just an 18-year-old who's a little immature talking?

“I’m emotional,” he said. “I’m more emotional than most people. That poses a problem for the hockey world. A lot of players are trained to hold their emotions. Look at Sidney Crosby, how much emotion do you see? Pavel Datsyuk, the same. Jonathan Toews, the same. All stone-faced. P.K. gets into trouble. Kane gets in trouble. The guys with more personality play with something more.

“I love to dangle. I love to play an offensive game. I love to celebrate when I score. I believe in myself. And when I tell them that, they take from that what they want.”

Simmons continues at extended length, and he certainly speaks his mind, so he'll allow you to draw your own conclusions.

I find this very in-vogue-in-Canada question as to whether players who are black are subject to a different set of behavioral rules all very troubling. When I grew up playing street hockey with the kids who weren't quite good enough to play on the high school team, I played with my Korean-American pal who introduced me to hockey, I played with Arab-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, youg men of all sorts of socio-economic backgrounds and religions, etc., and someone's ethnicity or background just didn't fare into the, "Do I want him on my team?" equation.

We obviously still live in a world where race matters, where ethnicity matters, where nationality matters (just ask Don Cherry), where gender matters, where sexuality matters, and that's not going to change, but I still think it's a real shame that so many people still judge hockey players based upon what they look like. That ain't right.