The stuff that hockey used to tolerate from those in power wasn’t acceptable anymore. Aliu’s lawyer, Ben Meiselas, said the investigation into systemic racism the league pledged to undergo at the time still has not happened.īeach reached out to Aliu by text, crediting Aliu for being an inspiration in providing him the courage to go public in telling his story.Īliu’s story also created a domino effect, putting successful coaches like Mike Babcock and longtime Quenneville assistant Mike Kitchen on the defensive for mentally or physically abusive tactics. Players accused Graham James of sexual abuse in the 1980s and ’90s, and the disgraced junior coach pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault involving more than 300 encounters.īlackhawks prospect Kyle Beach accused video coach Brad Aldrich of sexual assault in 2010, and at least one coach and a handful of executives who looked the other way are now out of the league after an investigation revealed their blatant mishandling of the case.Ī former teammate of Beach’s, Akim Aliu, spoke up two years ago about his experience with Peters and the aftermath prompted the NHL to invest time, energy and resources into combating racism in a league that’s still over 95% white. The overwhelming evidence shows it has not been a safe place for many dating back quite some time. A lot of things are going to happen within the game that are going to make people uncomfortable and they’re not pleasant, but at the same time, we have to go through this if we’re really going to make hockey a sport that’s inclusive and a safe place.” “It’s an awakening,” former player Anson Carter told The Associated Press by phone Friday. The players are speaking out, on social media and in lawsuits and beyond, finding the courage to crack and perhaps end the sport’s century-old engrained culture of silence. So is Stan Bowman, the general manager of three Stanley Cup-winning teams in Chicago, along with a fellow executive from the Original Six franchise that is now picking up the pieces from the fallout after being slapped with a $2 million fine by the league.Īlready sidelined are Bill Peters, the coach of the Calgary Flames who resigned in 2019 after it emerged that he made racist remarks to a player while in the minors, and Don Cherry, the once-beloved face and voice of hockey in Canada who was fired for an inappropriate rant about immigrants.Īll of this and more has forced the NHL to confront coaching practices and matters of systemic racism and misbehavior in a sport where coaches have ruled with iron fists and conforming is the expectation. Gone is Joel Quenneville, who has won the second-most games of any coach in NHL history. The scandal that rocked the National Hockey League this week began more than a decade ago, and it’s part of a painful, overdue reckoning that has transformed the sport over the past two years.
0 kommentar(er)
