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2018 World Junior Allegations

Nik said:
cw said:
L K said:
The ring thing especially made me roll my eyes because it really highlights how self important the board thinks they are.  You did absolutely nothing to impact the medals.

Also why has there not been more criticism of the Oilers and Bob Nicholson.
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That to me is like stealing money from little kids
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And what makes it particularly egregious is that this is a sport where a lot of kids have either restricted their involvement or never started playing at all because of the high costs.

Obviously the cost of these rings wouldn't materially change that but it definitely again speaks to the idea that these guys just have no idea about the optics of their behaviour.
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Like many in Canada, I grew up with a little rink my Dad made in our backyard.
There were natural rinks in all the parks and schools around us.
Skates, gloves, stick, maybe shin pads and away we'd go.
I was addicted and usually played from about 3pm when school got out until they turned off the lights at 10pm.
It cost me 10 cents per day. My mother insisted I had to call home via pay phone every day to say I wouldn't be home for dinner. That was 10 cents more than most guys had to pay.
I played organized hockey with full equipment but most of the time, I played shinny without full equipment and was happier doing that.
Climate change pretty much ended natural rinks.
I was able to make one for my kids when they were very young. Got too warm.
Along with equipment for safety, the costs skyrocketed.

Hockey Canada needs to spend their time addressing that. It is a formidable challenge they probably won't be able to overcome. If they don't, hockey in Canada will be more rare due to its expense - like polo. Climate and sport economics will continue to push more Canadians towards more affordable and safer activities like soccer, baseball, basketball, etc

In the interim, at least the sexual assault victims will be muzzled & paid off, the perpetrators free and maybe the lawyers can design the board of directors some $3,000 rings for that!
 
https://twitter.com/nicolemartintv/status/1579817872867885056

Forget morality for a second, just as a practical matter what could the board members hanging on by their fingertips think is the endgame at this point? That people just forget and sponsors go right back to giving money? That new sponsors take their place?
 
herman said:
https://twitter.com/hockeycanada/status/1579851522107936769
Aaand flush goes the toilet
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https://hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/hockey-canada-makes-leadership-changes-2022-news

Good.

That's a step in the right direction.

I went to look at their "Mandate & Mission" page
https://hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/corporate/about/mandate-mission
It crashed. Wouldn't load. "hockeycanada.ca Host Error"
Maybe they got some AI built into their site ...

Thoughts of "how do we get them to melt down those rings? ..."
 
They haven't outlined how they will change anything yet, but it's finally a decision that slightly reverses the momentum of continually sewering the whole organization with tone-deaf self-righteousness in the face of overwhelming evidence.
 
Obviously a step in the right direction but really just one step among many that needs to be taken for this organization to ever regain public trust. Simply turning to a new bunch of people who won't make significant internal changes isn't going to be enough.

Like, for instance, I've seen some people speculate as to what Smith was earning as CEO and what he'll be leaving with in terms of compensation and I think that right away, the idea that Hockey Canada should have someone in charge making a literal fortune is insane to begin with.
 
They have a lot of work to do. They will not turn this around quickly. They violated peoples trust.

Immediately, they have a real budget problem. They have to cut a lot of expenses quickly. They have to repair what bridges they can for revenue. Many will probably not be repairable in the short term or not as lucrative. Some of that dough will have to be set aside for unplanned restructuring costs.

They have to find good people and reinvent themselves. That is going to take time and good people may be hard to attract right out of the gate. Hopefully, they can find a good, credible leader or group.
On the bright side, they should come out of it as a better organization than they were.

It is going to be tough for a while. At least they are finally underway.

 
cw said:
They have a lot of work to do. They will not turn this around quickly. They violated peoples trust.

Immediately, they have a real budget problem. They have to cut a lot of expenses quickly. They have to repair what bridges they can for revenue. Many will probably not be repairable in the short term or not as lucrative. Some of that dough will have to be set aside for unplanned restructuring costs.

They have to find good people and reinvent themselves. That is going to take time and good people may be hard to attract right out of the gate. Hopefully, they can find a good, credible leader or group.
On the bright side, they should come out of it as a better organization than they were.

It is going to be tough for a while. At least they are finally underway.
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Their name itself might be permanently tainted...rename/rebrand is probably going to be necessary.
 
The bird resigning en masses is good.  As mentioned above, they are resigning with disgrace so I?d be very keen to know what kind of social parachute they gave themselves for being incompetent.

It?s a step in the right direction but until we see meaningful change in terms of the culture at hockey Canada we might just get a new board doing the same shenanigans.  We still don?t know how many skeletons are in the closet with this organization
 
Now that the board has resigned, it should be time to move onto the next steps. They need to rebuild their trust with society. They can write all they want down on a "mission" page...But they need top to bottom buy in.

The biggest issue they are facing is the system that is created around the "high talent" players. They are propped on pedestals at a very young age and their ego is massaged constantly. They can do no wrong in the hockey association's, and for that matter, the town's eyes. This creates a feeling of being untouchable. This is a big part of what we've seen occur. Spoiled teenagers, doing unthinkable acts because they think they're beyond punishment(as they have been their whole lives). It's then followed by grown adults, once again, covering up for these disgusting acts.

I remember 15 years ago or so, Akim Aliu complained about the hazing that occured on his junior team which involved 15/16 year old boys being stripped naked and locked in the team bus bathroom. At the time, it pissed off some people, but for the most part Aliu was dismissed as a whiner. One NHL Scout actually said this about Aliu:

One long-time NHL scout, who had followed Aliu for a couple years and seen him play a dozen or so times, vouched for the Very Goods and Excellents on Aliu?s NHL CSS report but wasn?t completely sold on him. ?He?s an athlete but the question is whether he?s a player,? the scout said then. In the end, Aliu was seen by some in the industry as a malcontent instead of what he clearly was: Someone who would not go along to get along when things were so clearly wrong.
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Full article here: https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/akim-aliu-hockey-hazing-big-read/

Coaches, parents, teammates, Associations, all overlooked Aliu's treatment and continue to overlook this behaviour.

The board flipping is a step. A small one. But, society as a whole has failed these hockey players and in turn, has failed the victims. I'm not saying that the players do not have to carry a heavy share of the blame. I am saying that every association that these kids played in carries blame. The high school teacher that propped these players up as heroes carries blame. Their parents carry blame.

I guess my longwinded, all over the place point is, the covering up and misuse of funds is only a small part of the problem that needs to be fixed. There is a repair needed in how we treat the "elite athlete". Call them on their BS. Punish them early when they are out of line...and at the end of it all, if they're still a POS, banish them from the sport.


 
OldTimeHockey said:
Now that the board has resigned, it should be time to move onto the next steps. They need to rebuild their trust with society. They can write all they want down on a "mission" page...But they need top to bottom buy in.

... snip...

I guess my longwinded, all over the place point is, the covering up and misuse of funds is only a small part of the problem that needs to be fixed. There is a repair needed in how we treat the "elite athlete". Call them on their BS. Punish them early when they are out of line...and at the end of it all, if they're still a POS, banish them from the sport.
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It's not just Hockey Canada that needs changes.

Evander Kane, Tony D'Angelo, Jake Virtanen, Logan Mailloux etc all prove that it doesn't matter what you do, if you're a good enough player NHL teams will ignore just about anything and claim everybody gets a second (or third or fourth or fifth) chance.

Talented kids see that and know they can get away with little to no repercussions
 
Groundskeeper Willie said:
OldTimeHockey said:
Now that the board has resigned, it should be time to move onto the next steps. They need to rebuild their trust with society. They can write all they want down on a "mission" page...But they need top to bottom buy in.

... snip...

I guess my longwinded, all over the place point is, the covering up and misuse of funds is only a small part of the problem that needs to be fixed. There is a repair needed in how we treat the "elite athlete". Call them on their BS. Punish them early when they are out of line...and at the end of it all, if they're still a POS, banish them from the sport.
Click to expand...

It's not just Hockey Canada that needs changes.

Evander Kane, Tony D'Angelo, Jake Virtanen, Logan Mailloux etc all prove that it doesn't matter what you do, if you're a good enough player NHL teams will ignore just about anything and claim everybody gets a second (or third or fourth or fifth) chance.

Talented kids see that and know they can get away with little to no repercussions
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Exactly my point.
 
I don't fundamentally disagree with either of the above posts but I do think that what you guys are really talking about there is addressing much larger issues in society that really aren't limited to hockey. Both in terms of how we just deal with sexual crime but also in the way capitalism often reduces us all to numbers and how the consequences we face for our actions is often linked to our financial resources or someone elses financial interest in shielding us.

It's good to keep that context in mind when we talk about this stuff but to some extent it can also be biting off more than can be realistically chewed. I don't think anyone really thinks that dropping the hammer on Hockey Canada fixes society at large but going hard after Hockey Canada is probably the most positive step you can take in that direction.
 
Nik said:
I don't fundamentally disagree with either of the above posts but I do think that what you guys are really talking about there is addressing much larger issues in society that really aren't limited to hockey. Both in terms of how we just deal with sexual crime but also in the way capitalism often reduces us all to numbers and how the consequences we face for our actions is often linked to our financial resources or someone elses financial interest in shielding us.

It's good to keep that context in mind when we talk about this stuff but to some extent it can also be biting off more than can be realistically chewed. I don't think anyone really thinks that dropping the hammer on Hockey Canada fixes society at large but going hard after Hockey Canada is probably the most positive step you can take in that direction.
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Sure. But, my original point was that unless hometown associations and high schools change the way they prop up the "superstars", no matter what Hockey Canada says on a website, or how many board members step down, nothing will change with "hockey culture".
 
Nik said:
I don't fundamentally disagree with either of the above posts but I do think that what you guys are really talking about there is addressing much larger issues in society that really aren't limited to hockey. Both in terms of how we just deal with sexual crime but also in the way capitalism often reduces us all to numbers and how the consequences we face for our actions is often linked to our financial resources or someone elses financial interest in shielding us.

It's good to keep that context in mind when we talk about this stuff but to some extent it can also be biting off more than can be realistically chewed. I don't think anyone really thinks that dropping the hammer on Hockey Canada fixes society at large but going hard after Hockey Canada is probably the most positive step you can take in that direction.
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I don't know if it's even capitalism.  I think that no matter the system, the people at the top of the system will abuse those at the bottom of it.
 
Significantly Insignificant said:
Nik said:
I don't fundamentally disagree with either of the above posts but I do think that what you guys are really talking about there is addressing much larger issues in society that really aren't limited to hockey. Both in terms of how we just deal with sexual crime but also in the way capitalism often reduces us all to numbers and how the consequences we face for our actions is often linked to our financial resources or someone elses financial interest in shielding us.

It's good to keep that context in mind when we talk about this stuff but to some extent it can also be biting off more than can be realistically chewed. I don't think anyone really thinks that dropping the hammer on Hockey Canada fixes society at large but going hard after Hockey Canada is probably the most positive step you can take in that direction.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's even capitalism.  I think that no matter the system, the people at the top of the system will abuse those at the bottom of it.
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Obviously any system is subject to misbehaviours by bad actors but what's unique to Capitalism is that the value of the labour of these hockey players gets them protected by the actually powerful. People like Mailloux aren't given second chances because 18 year old junior hockey players have any real "power" or are on top of a system but just because NHL teams see them as assets that can add value and should be protected.
 
https://twitter.com/katiejstrang/status/1582096296113889280
Triples make it safe. Triples is best.
 
https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1752423629667651659

Calgary filing Dube's absence under mental health reasons is extremely dubious
 
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