Maybe other parents have discovered the same thing.
That it’s when you are tucking your children into bed, they most want to talk. Ask big questions.
Growing up with a sports-mad father, my nine-year-old son, Will, wants to know the other scores before he falls asleep after I let him stay up and watch the first period.
On Wednesday night, that meant telling Will about the bravery of the Milwaukee Bucks, and it meant explaining the “PPD” next to all the NBA scores and a bunch of the baseball games as well.
It also meant a flood of follow-up questions building on a recurring topic in our home that began before George Floyd’s murder but has certainly spiked in frequency and detail since then:
“The cop was white, right?”
“I don’t understand. Why shoot seven times?”
“How old is Jacob Blake? Does he have kids?”
“Why didn’t the NHL players take a stand?”
“Are all NHL players white?”
I want my son to know that Jacob Blake is 29 years old. That he is a dad. That he was unarmed. That he may never walk again. And, you’re right, Will, that’s not fair.
What I wanted to tell my son is that the NHL players we’ve been entertained by each night this month stood by the NBA, members of MLB, WNBA, MLS and professional tennis. That they all banned united with athletes from other backgrounds and other sports for the common cause of decency.
That they boycotted, or they knelt, or they said something into a microphone we could feel. Be proud of.
The way Doc Rivers did. Or Kenny Smith. Or Chris Webber. Or Sam Mitchell. Or Dominic Smith.
Wednesday won’t be the only opportunity to stand up to police brutality against Black people — there’s no deadline for that — but it was a golden one.
Hockey is my favourite sport, and today I’m a little embarrassed to write that. I won’t pretend to imagine how people of colour who love the sport — fans, players, media members — must be feeling.
“As a league, yesterday I feel like that was a missed opportunity for us, and as a sport in general…this has long been a point of vulnerability.”@KevinWeekes with @JeffMarek, @Burkie2020 & @jtbourne.#NHL
The 33-second moment of silence to “erase racism” and wish Blake’s family well before one of the three games played Wednesday felt flippant. The “We Skate for Black Lives” signage that hangs inside Scotiabank Arena rings as empty as the rink itself.
“The signs and the hockey ops is great and everything, but eventually words get stale,” Nazem Kadri said post-game. “It’s about action and making a difference.”
Wednesday night sure felt like a chance for some action, to spread the conversation to a largely white audience. To spark some discussion in households and make people pay attention to the injustice. For a start, watch this:
“If even one player had come to me and said, ‘Hey, I don’t think we should play,’ then we would’ve addressed it as a team. But I never got word from anyone in our room, and the league hadn’t said the players are thinking about not playing,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said.
“It’s obviously an important topic and something we need to think long and hard about as a country. But I just think tonight wasn’t maybe the time and place for us.”
So, in the hockey world, it was left to people with no Stanley Cup to play for this year — Evander Kane, Matt Dumba, Akim Aliu, Kelly Hrudey — to speak up.
“I don’t think we should be here. I really think the NHL should postpone the games,” Hrudey said on Hockey Night in Canada. “I really feel we should be more supportive of Black Lives Matter.”
The games felt unworthy of commentary outside of the disappointment that they happened at all.
Did players not protest out of fear of speaking or standing out as individuals while playoff hockey was front of mind for their teams? Peer pressure is powerful and ridding hockey culture of its rigid conformity and reluctance to embrace diversity won’t happen overnight.
But this one was on a platter for hockey players. A tap-in. They didn’t have to lead, just follow the pack of humanity. Listen. Support. Be an ally.
“The NHL, we’re always late to the party, especially on these topics, so it’s sorta sad and disheartening for me and other members of the HDA [Hockey Diversity Alliance], and I’m sure other guys across the league,” said Dumba, who once knelt alone.
“But if no one stands up and does anything, it’s the same thing — it’s just that silence that you’re just outside looking in on actually being leaders and invoking real change when you have such an opportunity to do so.”
“It’s another instance, unfortunately, that still hasn’t been acknowledged and we’re about — what? — three or four days into this video being released, or this incident occurring, and I still haven’t seen or heard anything in regards to it. So, that’s disappointing. And as a Black player in this league, it’s even more disappointing,” Kane said.
Kane also tweeted this: “Actually, it’s incredibly insulting as a Black man in hockey the lack of action and acknowledgement from the @nhl, just straight up insulting.”
Dumba, sounding defeated during his interview on Sportsnet 650, urged his white peers to join the fight.
“In hockey, that’s what it comes back to: you’re relying on the minority guys to step up and say it. But what would really make the most impact is to have strong white leaders from teams step up and have their two cents heard,” Dumba said.
“All the other white kids who grow up watching them, who might be their biggest fans, can look up and say, ‘Wow, if he’s seeing this and trying to stand up and listen, then why am I not as well? Why am I continuing to hold on to this ignorance or hate that I feel toward a subject that I maybe don’t know everything about?’ ”
On Thursday afternoon Kane, Dumba, Akim Aliu and the Hockey Diversity Alliance called on the NHL to postpone its games later that night. The players are now preparing for those cancellations.
There is power in numbers. In unity.
And there is incredible power, when you’re tucking your kids in at night, explaining to them why the NHL players chose not to play a game. Why they stood up for people who don’t look quite the same. And why they, too, believe what’s happening is unfair.
Why they chose not to skate for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake on Wednesday night?
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.
The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.
Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.
He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.
Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.
Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.
The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.
Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.
Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.
Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.
WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).
Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.
“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.
“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”
Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.
Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.
Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.
Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.
The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.
Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.
The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.
WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.
The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.
Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.
Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad
Forwards
Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);
Backs
Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).
—
Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.
The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.
He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.
Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.
He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.
Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
