Aaron Paitich

In a recent 40 under 40 list of the most influential people working in hockey under 40 years old, The Athletic recognized the trailblazing work of many American hockey people including four current or former USA Hockey staff members. Stephanie Jackson, USA Hockey’s director of diversity and inclusion, and Rod Braceful, assistant director of player personnel for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, were both honored.

Dave Andrews has played a significant role in helping advance hockey in the United States. Because of his efforts, Andrews, the longtime president and chief executive officer of the American Hockey League, has been named the recipient of USA Hockey’s Distinguished Achievement Award this year. “I’m really humbled by it, and I was certainly shocked when I found out,” Andrews said.

“One of the workers looked at my wife and went, ‘Oh, did you guys adopt her?’ Our daughter doesn’t look like us so she answers yes. And then the worker goes, ‘Was her birth mother on drugs?’. Why does she jump to the assumption that her birth mother had to be on drugs for her to be up for adoption?” Slavin continued, “Our eyes opened once we adopted our daughter. We hate that it took until then to realize these things, but that was our starting point.