Opinion by Warren Kinsella - Toronto Sun
Ice Technician Ryan Smith (with hose) and Blayne Sproule prepare the ice over top of a Team Canada logo on the Calgary Flames locker room on Aug 21/ 09 as Hockey Canada prepares to take over the Pengrowth Saddledome for the team Canada Olympic Camp next week.
Three hockey truths.
One, our kids are never going to play in the NHL.
Two, it’s just a game.
Three, our kids are never ever going to play in the NHL.
I’ve got four kids, three boys and a girl. All of them played hockey. I spent a lot of time in cold hockey rinks over the years. Those three points above were my motto.
I was one of those hockey dads who wouldn’t say much. If the kids scored a goal, I’d clap. If the team needed a sponsor, I’d be it. If someone needed a ride, on either team, I’d give it.
Every once in a while, I’d be standing beside a dad, or a mom, who was not setting a good example. You know: the parents who would scream at the kids, or the officials, or the coaches. The ones who thought their little angel was going to play in the NHL. The jerks.
So, I’d sidle up beside the loud parents — I stand 6-foot-5 in my Doc Martens, and I usually was wearing a biker jacket and a punk rock T-shirt with an offensive band name on it — and I’d quietly remind them of the three points above. They’d look a bit uneasy. Then I’d move on.
The people who ran Hockey Canada — now blessedly gone — remind me of those parents. Hanging out in rinks, bossing people around, clueless about the harm they were causing: that was the leadership at Hockey Canada.
The loud parents and the ex-execs at Hockey Canada share one other character flaw, too: they were apparently always willing to excuse, and cover up, any and all sorts of misconduct with the use of non-disclosure agreements when settling sexual assault cases. Because, they thought, they were sending the kids to the big show.
Except they weren’t. Instead, they were teaching the kids — young males, almost entirely — that any type of wrongdoing, even criminal, was fine. As long as they were devoted to the game.
As noted, however: it’s just a dumb game. Hell, it’s not even Canada’s game anymore. No Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since 1993. So much for the national pride exemption.
It’s a game, mom and dad. It’s a game, Hockey Canada white-washers. It’s a game mainly for kids. Chasing a lump of vulcanized rubber across frozen ponds with some wooden sticks.
The bad parents, and the bad Hockey Canada execs, lost sight of that. They believe and believed they are/were on some higher mission. That they were in pursuit of some higher divine purpose, all truth and decency be damned.
But, but. When the boy-men start to get charged criminally with sexual assault and assault and gang rape, will the bad parents and the bad Hockey Canada people wake up from their infantile fantasy on skates? Probably not.
If you are willing to overlook rape, and gang rape, you’ll probably forgive anything. But at that point, you’re not just a hockey mom or dad or more. You’re not just an executive who has selflessly devoted yourself to the national game.
You’re beneath contempt, and you don’t belong near any hockey rink, hurting some kids who are just trying to have fun — chasing a bit of vulcanized rubber and a dream of new friends and laughter.
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