Larry Kwong and Asians In The NHL

There's a real nice article in Vernon Morning Star about Larry Kwong.

He had a long and interesting career in hockey, including just one game in the National Hockey League. But by appearing in that game with the New York Rangers back on March 13th, 1948 he became the first Asian-Canadian to play in the NHL.

Here's some more quick links on Larry Kwong:

Kwong Made History - New York Rangers.com
The Story Of Larry Kwong - Terry Glavin

Still, there have not been a lot of people of Asian-background playing hockey at the elite level. Jim Paek, Yutaka Fukufuji, Richard Park, Peter Ing, Devon Setoguchi, David Tanabe, Ryan Kuwabara, Manny Malhotra and of course Paul Kariya come to mind. Not to mention Canadian women's national team veteran Vicky Sunohara.

Of course, I could get technical and point out Hockey Hall of Famer Rod Langway was born in Taiwan and 2005 first round pick Ryan O'Marra was born in Japan, but neither are of Asian ancestery.

Then there is Alexander Mogilny, who of course was born in Russia, but closer to Pacific than to Moscow. His hometown is only 30 km away from the Chinese border. The town, Khabarovsk, was Chinese until approximately 150 years ago.