Charles Schulz was a great hockey fan, and the first to insist he was having a black character in his comics. I don’t believe this was meant to be unkind, just Charles Schulz speaking his opinion through Patty that in the 1970s black players were not likely to make it to the NHL more because of racism than because of a lack of skill.
Whoever wrote this story line must have written for the movies as well – the serialized adventures that ended in a new “cliff-hanger” every Saturday and shown with a cartoon and a news reel before the main feature.
I’m pretty sure he meant to say cromulent.