NHL postpones games as hockey struggles to find its place among sports’ racial justice protests

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The NHL said Thursday it would postpone four playoff games, one day after taking heat for not joining other sports in the growing major-league protests against racial injustice in the United States.

In a joint statement issued early Thursday evening, the NHL and its players’ association said the players “believe that the best course of action would be to take a step back and not play tonight’s and tomorrow’s games as scheduled.”

The move came hours after the Hockey Diversity Alliance, a small group of current and former NHL players, which includes Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks and Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild, called on the league to suspend games. “We strongly feel that this sends a clear message that human rights take priority over sports,” the Alliance said on Twitter.

The league’s announcement seemed to acknowledge that its players are overwhelmingly white and have sometimes been seen to be out of step during this summer of racial reckoning. “Black and Brown communities continue to face real, painful experiences. The NHL and NHLPA recognize that much work remains to be done before we can play an appropriate role in a discussion centred on diversity, inclusion and social justice.

“We understand that the tragedies involving Jacob Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others require us to recognize this moment. We pledge to work to use our sport to influence positive change in society. The NHLPA and NHL are committed to working to foster more inclusive and welcoming environments within our arenas, offices and beyond.”

The NHL’s move came as the NBA, whose players spurred the current action among pro athletes when the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for their game against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday afternoon, prompting the cancellation of two other games that evening, announced matches scheduled for Thursday would also be suspended. Among those postponed was the Toronto Raptors’ first game of their Round 2 series against the Boston Celtics. The Toronto Blue Jays’ game in Buffalo against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday was also postponed.

The NHL postponements will give hockey an opportunity to try to find its place in a conversation where it has struggled, in part because of the sport’s long-standing lack of diversity and disdain of progressive politics.

But during a news conference in the NHL’s Edmonton bubble after the announcement, Ryan Reaves of the Vegas Golden Knights, flanked by dozens of players, suggested the league’s makeup might give it a unique voice.

“I think if you look around this room, there’s a lot of white athletes that’s in here, and I think that’s the statement that’s being made right now. It’s great that the NBA did this and the MLB and the WNBA, they have a lot of Black players in those leagues. But for all these athletes in here, to take a stand and say, you know what? We see the problem, too, and we stand behind you. I go to war with these guys and I hate their guts on the ice, but I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”

He added: “These two days isn’t going to fix anything, but the conversation and the statement that’s been made is very powerful, especially coming from this league.”

First, though, the league must try to turn the page from the bad press it engendered by proceeding with two games on Wednesday night, despite the suspension of matches across some other leagues. Moments before the opening faceoff between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning in Toronto, Christine Simpson of Sportsnet, which broadcasts the games in Canada, said, “I feel actually sick to my stomach that we’re here, doing this game.”

Critics also complained about the league’s decision to hold a 40-second “moment of reflection” before that game, during which an announcer said the “NHL would like to take this moment to wish Jacob Blake and his family well, and call out to our fans and communities to stand up for social justice and the effort to end racism.”

Commentator Keith Olbermann tweeted that the moment was “Disastrous. Small. Deaf. Blind. Condescending. Patronizing.”

On Thursday, the Buffalo Sabres’ Wayne Simmonds, who is a member of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, told TSN’s Leafs Lunch radio program that, “as a Black man playing in the NHL, it’s a little bit of a slap in the face ... for the NHL to actually play that game and show a futile attempt at trying to say you’re with the Black Lives Matter movement, by just having a moment of silence – I don’t think that’s enough.”

Michael Robidoux, a University of Ottawa professor and the author of two books about hockey culture, including Stickhandling through the Margins: First Nations Hockey in Canada, said that players “are generally insular, removed not just from politics but the everyday world in lots of ways. ... That’s part of hockey culture and part of being an elite hockey player.”

He added that hockey reinforces its own homogeneity. “As soon as there’s any expression of difference, it’s unwelcome to a certain degree. This doesn’t mean that players are overtly racist. I would say that that isn’t the case, but when you have a sense of homogeneity and comfort of what it means to be a hockey player – which is historically male and white – that is what’s perpetuated.”

As word of the expanding cancellations spread on Thursday, some fans took to social media to attack athletes for their advocacy and to mock them as overpaid entertainers.

Christine Dallaire, a University of Ottawa professor who studies the sociology of sport, criticized that perception.

“Athletes live among us, some of them have had the experience of racism, and we cannot just use them as entertainers and enjoy them because we like to see them in movement, but then not want them to take any action in society,” she said.

“Athletes have a pedestal from which they can speak. We saw it with the [Black Power salute by two African-American Olympians] in the ’68 Olympics. We don’t expect them to take these positions all the time, but I think particularly for Black athletes it is the one space where they are so visible and they can make a statement.”

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