I remember covering city council in a small town in Ontario where one councillor there kept using the phrase ‘slippery slope’ whenever there is discussion at the Council table about making changes for the better of society, environment, etc. He was worried with how the decision to move forward with a municipally-led project would affect the private sector especially small businesses. The phrase slippery slope can also be applied to the situation at Hockey Canada.
There is something unusual about what has unfolded over the last number of months and no one is really touched on it. Are we doing this to save the sport of hockey? I’m not talking about whether charges should be laid on the eight players of the Canadian world junior hockey team accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2018. Or how a white coach utter racial slurs towards a black player on a hockey team. These things happen no matter what organization, corporation, or industry you are in and need to be eradicated. But will the changes being demanded by politicians and other groups save the sport of hockey? I certainly don’t think so.
Now, I have my issues with Hockey Canada whether it be the selection of players on the world junior team or its approach to the sport. But if we are about to take a hammer to Hockey Canada, we must be able to protect the game of hockey as much those who participate in it. All we are being inundated with is talk about putting people who either don’t know the game, or want to see altered to a point where the sport will become unrecognizable.
I keep hearing about the toxic culture in hockey that has led to sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. I don’t see people lining up to demand that changes be made to the governing body in charge of basketball or soccer because of the toxic culture in those sports. This use of a wide brush stroke to overhaul over 100 years in the development of a sport is insane.
What exactly is toxic about hockey? Is it violent? Yes. Do people get hurt? Sometimes, but I would argue that it is up to the individual to make sure that he or she does not get seriously injured? Does it get one’s blood boiling? Absolutely. But I would say those elements are what makes fans attracted to the sport. It what makes the game great.
What’s really scandalous about the whole situation involving Hockey Canada, and what no one is really talking about, is this is starting to be more about extortion than finding justice for a woman who was forced to do something against her will. Somebody is threating to expose someone or some group. And by not going directly to the police, this smells awfully like blackmail on someone’s part. And if that is the reason millions of dollars of corporate sponsorships are being taken away from Hockey Canada, someone’s going to have to pay big time.
The media has been complicit in the attempts to overhaul of the sport of hockey. And not just because what’s going on at Hockey Canada. They have been an enemy of hockey for decades whether it about fighting between players on the ice, or fighting between parents in the stands. They have always tried to finds ways of bastardizing the sport in order to meet their agenda. They have found a crack in the wall through this scandal.
I don’t think changing the stewards of the sport is going to do anything to prevent the next unprovoked attack from happening whether it is sexual, racial, or otherwise. If there is a moral problem to hockey, may I offer a solution: a male (or female) figure (sometime called fathers or mothers). You don’t have to have Father Raymond deSouza or Jason Whitlock explain to you why having an adult male (or female) role model is critical in raising good young men (and women). Why is it up to organizations like Hockey Canada to raise your child? This is something that should be addressed by parents in a family setting well before a child decides they want to pick up a stick.
I fully support the idea that changes are needed at the top of Hockey Canada for the betterment of the sport. But there is certainly no reason to start every thing from scratch. Everyone should be doing their part to save hockey. But it appears to the last thing on the minds of those in charge of Hockey Canada and those asking for their heads to roll.
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