He was yelling pretty urgently. There's different pitches of yell and he was screaming.

He was yelling pretty urgently. There's different pitches of yell and he was screaming.

The first step is to believe that it's possible. Once I had a taste of success, you start to believe in it a little more.

Growing up, I was always the only black kid on my team and (sometimes) I'd get questions from my friends when I'd say, `I want to be in the NHL' and they'd say, `Well, there are no black people or not very many in the NHL' and as a kid, you'd wonder why. But overall, I didn't really face any racial difficulties. Nothing too bad or too lasting.

I think we came out the last couple of game and have been able to get it going. The first couple we were tentative a little bit, that energy, maybe excite. I saw in the last couple of games we've been able to channel that and use it in a positive way to go, be aggressive, physical and skate. When we're skating and physical we're at our best and put a lot of pressure on the other team that way.

I kind of have to pinch myself. A lot of my dreams are coming true.

I want to be the top player in the league, and I want to bring my game to another level. I want to play against the opposition's best players-and I want to beat them.