The team was a couple of years in the making, really.

Rod Braceful started researching what organizations were doing good things for kids in hockey, particularly minority kids. He connected with Dee Dee Ricks from Next Gen AAA Foundation, and they bounced around the idea of putting a hockey team together.

The result was a U20 team made up of all minority, male hockey players known as the Next Gen team at the Beantown Summer Classic earlier this month in New Hampshire.

“I think the biggest thing was the fact that A, it’s never been done,” said Braceful, the assistant director of player personnel for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. “And if it has been done, it hasn’t been at this high of a level.”
https://www.usahockey.com/news_article/show/1119517