Jack Todd: It's past time for Hockey Canada to clean house
For too long, a toxic male culture has ruled junior hockey in this country.
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As sponsor after sponsor pulled funding from Hockey Canada this week, there was little doubt that the organization’s executive will have to go in the wake of the scandalous decision to pay off the victim of an alleged gang rape perpetrated by eight junior players in a downtown London hotel.
Scotiabank, Telus, Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, Bauer — the list of companies pulling out is a Who’s Who of hockey sponsors across the country. Esso unwisely chose to remain, but the company said it is aware of the situation and that “concrete steps must be taken immediately to address safety issues and ensure swift culture change.”
All that is as it should be. Even after the initial round of government hearings, there are so many unresolved questions about the payoff that a full investigation of every aspect of Hockey Canada management is in order.
The first question: How is it that neither London Police nor the law firm hired by Hockey Canada to “investigate” the incident were able to come up with the names of any of the eight players involved?
Unfortunately, when sponsors yank their money from Hockey Canada, it also affects thousands of young women and girls who play hockey in this country — women who are completely innocent, who are frequently subject to sexism and inappropriate behaviour themselves and who do not have nine-figure NHL contracts in their future.
The sponsors are aware of what needs to be done to compensate. Scotiabank took the unusual step of taking out a full-page ad in the Globe and Mail to explain its position and emphasize its intention to divert the money to other programs and to charities helping female victims of gender-based violence.
The situation as it is now is simply untenable. Scott Smith needs to resign as CEO, and his replacement must be a woman. It’s the only way to get rid of the toxic male culture that has ruled junior hockey in this country for decades.
Cold War reality
It’s a John Le Carré novel adapted for reality television: NHL prospect gets into a contract dispute with a Russian hockey team. Next thing he knows, he’s been nabbed, injected, possibly poisoned and taken to a Russian naval base.
Except that this war isn’t cold. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a hot shooting war. Vladimir Putin’s regime is murdering thousands of Ukrainian civilians while transporting hundreds of thousands of others — women and children included — to Russia.
Putin, increasingly paranoid and inclined to lash out as his invasion has bogged down in the face of courageous Ukrainian resistance, has shown there is no situation too petty to attract his attention.
Contract disputes involving Russian players wanting to come to North America are, after all, pretty much routine. Someone wants out, the Russians protest, negotiations take place, the player is set free.
But the lengths to which Putin has gone in the case of Ivan Fedotov are chilling. Fedotov’s case would be routine except that 1) Putin is looking for hostages and 2) Fedotov happens to play for CKSA Moscow, which is technically the military, so Fedotov has been charged with draft evasion, which evokes my particular sympathy.
Fedotov had signed with the Philadelphia Flyers on May 7. He was expected to compete for a roster spot this fall, after helping Russia win a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics. It is surely no accident that Fedotov was arrested the same day the kangaroo trial of WNBA star Brittney Griner began in Moscow. Griner has been held on charges that trace amounts of hash oil were found on vape cartridges in her luggage.
Fedotov was taken first to the St. Petersburg military commissariat, then by ambulance to a hospital during the night of July 1. According to his lawyer, Fedotov was forcibly injected with an unknown substance, then taken to the Russian naval base at the closed city of Severomorsk in Murmansk Oblast — a distance of 1,356 kilometres from St. Petersburg.
With the NHL draft now less than five days away, this has to throw a monkey wrench into the draft plans of many a team. All things being equal, you would expect teams to shy away from Russian players throughout the 2022 draft. Organizations now have to worry not only about whether a draft pick from Russia might be available – they also must fear that drafting a Russian might actually put his life in danger.
If ever there was a time for Alexander Ovechkin and some of the other prominent Russian players to follow Artemi Panarin’s lead and speak out, this is it. Fedotov’s arrest and detention potentially affects every Russian player who aspires to the NHL.
Unfortunately, Putin’s most well-known stooge will remain exactly that, while the NHL plays the role of not-so-innocent bystander.
Heroes: Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton, the Canadiens No. 1 pick, Ivan Fedotov, Brittney Griner, Iga Swiatek, Wilfried Nancy, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Corey Perry &&&& last but not least, Artturi Lehkonen.
Zeros: Vladimir Putin, Alexander Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, Scott Smith, Tom Renney, Novak Djokovic, Nelson Piquet, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last and always least, Jeffrey Loria.
Now and forever.
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