Kevin Weekes, an 11-year goaltender in the National Hockey League, made history after his retirement in September of 2009, when he became the first black hockey analyst on Hockey Night in Canada as a color. Now a member of the in studio panel in 2013, Weekes can also be seen across North America on the NHL Network as an analyst on its nightly flagship program, NHL On The Fly, as well as on guest appearances on Versus and MSG Network’s Hockey Night Live!
An entrepreneur, Weekes, launched his lifestyle apparel company ‘I Have No 5 Hole‘ in 2012. The brand evolved out of his passion for sport, fashion and the community.
BLACK ENTERPRISE spoke with the Toronto native about entrepreneurship as well as black representation in the NHL. Here’s what he had to say:
The apparel line has an interesting name. How did it come about?
Kevin Weekes: The space between a goalie’s legs is called the five-hole. So as a goalie, you never want to get scored on in your five-hole. If you need to get from point A to point B, you have to open your legs to move. So a lot of times going from point A to B, a shooter will try to shoot for the five-hole. Every one of us has a five-hole. Everyone has something that makes us vulnerable – whether it’s the fear of flying or the fear of heights. So we’re a sports lifestyle brand but the one commonality between every one of us is that we have something that makes us vulnerable. So that’s the essence of the brand – trying to acknowledge that we have something that makes us vulnerable but not limit ourselves by that.
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