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Anson Carter grew up in Toronto and has played in the National Hockey League for nine seasons, including an unimpressive fifteen games here with the Kings a couple of years back. He lives in Santa Monica, though, and runs the hip-hop label he started, Big Up Entertainment, home of the moderately successful Main and Merc and a new film division. "I've been out here in sunny California for about 10 years now, so just being exposed to the entertainment industry gave me the idea to do something like this," he tells ESPN.com. Carter skates in the off-season with other local NHL players and hockey-crazy celebrities such as Cuba Gooding Jr. That may not be a very large fraternity, but he talks in the ESPN interview about belonging to an even smaller sports cohort: NHL players with Afro-Caribbean lineage. There were maybe a dozen in the league this season, including a handful who share Carter's roots in Barbados. By the way, he picks the Ducks to drink from the Cup.
Photo: Bigupentertainment.com