TSU Hockey Head Coach Duante' Abercrombie Spends Impactful Week at Predators Development Camp

Abercrombie's camp participation hasn't been limited to the playing field. On Thursday, the TSU Tigers bench boss took to the floor to offer some inspirational words to the next generation of Predators prospects.

Everyone’s background and journey is different, but that’s how you really grow as a team and get to know the people sitting next to you, Abercrombie said. Because if you really want to win, it’s more about the person sitting next to you than the person sitting in your shoes.

It's certainly true that Abercrombie's message was received with open arms.

[My biggest takeaway] “It was remembering where you came from and just taking a step back and seeing the progress that you've made,” said Teddy Stiga, a 2024 second-round pick. “I think for me, it's just a matter of looking back at my younger years and how much fun hockey was and just never taking a day for granted. I think it's easy to get caught up in the media and the stats and stuff like that, so I think it really brought me back and helped me realize that we're here to play hockey for an NHL team and it's not that bad.

I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is how much I appreciate my family and how much they’ve helped everyone get to where they are, said 2023 first-round pick Matthew Wood. I can’t even describe it. My dad coached me growing up and taught me pretty much everything, my mom always looked out for me, and my sisters were there to support me. When I moved to Vancouver Island, I stayed with my grandparents until we could find a house there, and they drove me to practices and games. I owe everything I have to my family, and I’m really thankful for them.

Family also played an important role in Abercrombie's life, including his decision to play hockey at a young age.

My mother had me when she was a teenager, 19, and she didn’t want her kids to become statistics, Abercrombie said. She had me learn to swim and play the violin, and learning to skate was another one. I was there with my toe picks on, just spinning around, and after I got off the ice, there was a hockey game coming on. I fell in love with it right away. I said, Mom, I want to try that, so she went and signed me up for our program downtown.

The program Abercrombie signed up for was the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, an affiliate of the NHL's Hockey Is For Everyone initiative and the oldest diversity hockey program in North America. Founded in 1978 by U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Neal Henderson, the Dupont Cannons continue to provide local and inner-city youth in Washington, D.C. the opportunity to learn and play hockey in an organized, competitive environment.

I didn’t grow up playing traditional hockey, Abercrombie said. My team was all black. So I grew up looking left and right and feeling like this game was ours. It wasn’t until someone from the outside said to me, Hey, this is a white man’s sport, and you know, black people don’t really play hockey. Then I thought, What do you mean we don’t? Yeah, we do.

It was those formative experiences, combined with a lifetime of service to the sport and people from similar backgrounds, that earned Abercrombie his historic achievement at Tennessee State.

It's also those experiences that brought him to a new high last season, when his hometown Washington Capitals appointed Abercrombie as a member of the Capitals Black Hockey Committee and former head instructor for the Capital Rising Stars Academy – their nomination for the Willie ORee Community Hero Award in 2024 during a surprise in-game ceremony.

I remember all those Capitals, Mike Grier, Anson Carter, Joel Ward, coming in and doing presentations at the rink where I grew up, and now I get to be that individual for other people, Abercrombie said. I was just overwhelmed with emotion, and my whole family was there because it happened to be Black Hockey Night. So to have the opportunity to experience that with my wife and my kids, they pointed to the jumbotron and said, Hey Dad, that's you, so it was just surreal.

The Abercrombie kids, and no doubt countless others from similarly diverse backgrounds, will once again watch as the 37-year-old leads not only the first HBCU hockey program in the country, but also the first and only Division I hockey program in the Music City.