“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

One good thing about the current junior hockey scandal rocking Canada from coast-to-coast is that Canadians may finally get a chance to “come clean” on a corrupt hockey culture that’s poisoning the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

That’s right, poisoning! I said it and I meant it.

I’m referring, of course to the infamous 2018 International Junior Hockey Tournament which Canada won only to be followed by the alleged rape of a drunken young woman by five members of the Canadian team. It’s further alleged that Hockey Canada paid the woman $3.5 million to keep quiet about the sordid event until it eventually leaked out and criminal charges were laid last week. Hockey Canada later admitted paying out $8.9 million in legal settlements to other women who claimed they were raped after junior tournaments dating back to 1989.

If gang raping young women to “celebrate” victory at junior hockey tournaments isn’t poisoning our hockey culture I’d like to know what is?

We don’t know all the details about such sordid behaviour, but it appears that something wickedly wrong has been going on after these tournaments and Hockey Canada has been willing to pay out millions over the years to hide this from the Canadian public. These women say they have been outrageously violated by guileless young men unable to control their hormones and who apparently don’t know right from wrong.

Sad to say, Hockey Canada did little or nothing to deter such creepy behaviour beyond paying out hush money and doing nothing to stop it. Think about that for a moment. If they knew the tainted cash had been paid that makes Hockey Canada executives accessories to what occurred.

Why aren’t they also being charged? And Hockey Canada is a federal agency funded in part by Canadian taxpayers. That makes all of us accessories to the boy’s despicable behaviour.

So, how much longer can we go on ignoring the criminal nature of the Canadian hockey culture?

Ironically, there may be a Cranbrook connection to this regrettable scandal. Tom Renney  the former CEO of Hockey Canada for eight years, was born and raised in Cranbrook and coached three NHL teams as well as the Kamloops Blazers in their glory days and had wide connections with international hockey. Renney, to the surprise of many, suddenly resigned from his post July 1, 2022, saying in a news conference “the time is right.”

A year later, he was succeeded by Hockey Canada’s first female CEO, Katherine Henderson. Will it take a woman to purge Canadian junior hockey of its horrific treatment of women and restore its sullied reputation? Only time will tell.

Many other disturbing questions deserve answers. Did Renney quit because he deplored the scandal? Or was the timing coincidental? Did other Hockey Canada executives do the same thing? Is this why the entire board resigned? Did the board think money alone could atone for the pain and suffering of the women who had been so painfully assaulted?

But these questions remain unanswered because Renney and the Hockey Canada board have gone to ground hiding behind the robes of their lawyers. The NHL is also investigating the simmering scandal but won’t comment until the Hockey Canada cases have been settled in the courts, said a league spokesman last week.

How long will that be? Several weeks? Several months? Or will it be years? And all of this when for the first time in 31years it looks like a Canadian team could make the Stanley Cup finals.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

The scandal could well become a “come to Jesus” moment for the embattled league. Unlike the NBA, the NFL and Major League Baseball, the NHL doesn’t have gazillions of cash flowing through its coffers. The league’s profile has always been small compared to its far bigger American cousins. Many Americans see the NHL as something akin to Roller Derby – big bodies crashing into each other, fights galore and other mayhem as players chase the ball or the puck. Too often, it’s a violent game for violent men with little respect for women.

Despite the gruesome incidents alleged about some players at the junior tournaments, Canadian hockey is still a great game. Let’s get these painful charges cleared up and make hockey great again.

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist who still has hopes for the future of Canadian hockey.

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