OffThePost.org

I remember giving him shit on this very website. Now I feel bad. I had no earthly idea just how awful and toxic hockey culture is. It just keeps shocking me with every subsequent revelation.

I went back and looked, and he got shit here for what he did in junior before this happened. And some of my post-assault comments about anger management had to do with his junior stuff, but yeah. You never know what someone is going through or carrying with them.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

People have an amazing ability to hide what's going on inside.

I agree with tcl, give him the $2M. Better yet, compensate him for what he potentially lost as a 1st rounder and make it count against the cap. Yeah, I know you never know if a player will succeed - but in this case.....

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What would Mad Max be like with EVs?

If the NHL and NHLPA had any brains, they would create a new department or at least expand the mandate of DPS to investigate whistleblower complaints and levy significant fines for transgressions like this. It harms the reputation and credibility of the league when it's covered up or when the players bully survivors like this.

I have nothing but respect for Kyle Beach in displaying the courage to not behind his John Doe persona. But really, we shouldn't be surprised that this crap continues - Sheldon Kennedy, Theo Fleury, others?

I hope he sues the Wirtzes for every penny they got. And they've made billions and billions since the club has risen from the ashes of Dollar Bill's reign.

I was reading an article about Sheldon Kennedy talking about the need for systemic change in hockey culture, ,and it occurred to me: what the hell is it about the sport and league of hockey that produces this? I mean, I can't recall such an endemic issue in MLB or the NBA (I don't follow the NFL) - were there also stories about a culture of physical (and sexual?) abuse by coaches to players in baseball and basketball, and I'm just forgetting it?

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What would Mad Max be like with EVs?

American football- there was the hazing situation in Sayerille, NJ in 2014. That was caught. Many aren't. That's just one I can think of off the top of my head. I heard of some in my high school and plenty at football camps.
Baseball and basketball- also heard of some things at camps.
A guy I went to high school with is currently serving 35 years for being a pedo. He was a tennis coach and would groom the players by offering extra, free lessons, then start giving them new rackets, inviting them for ice cream if they played well, which lead to "let little Johnny spend the weekend at my house and we'll go over all kinds of extra stuff on my personal court..." Yeah. That extra stuff landed him in jail and rightfully so. It's amazing that many of us "knew" he was a pedo. My friend was suspended for calling the guy a child molester in our chemistry class based on some things the guy had said (called the middle schoolers cute, and not like "aww, they're so cute and small!", but more like "they're so cu-ute!". Well, my friend was right! I told him he should find the old principal and demand an apology for the suspension.

Sometimes I wonder if this shit has always happened and we just hear more about it now, or if there is an increase.

As for hockey in particular, I find that locker rooms are a big part of the problem. Most other sports don't have locker rooms at the youth level, or players are in there for very short time spans if there is one. I almost always stand right outside the locker room when I'm at my kids' hockey events. Coaching girls I can't be in the locker room, obviously. I've heard some shit starting, banged on the door, and told them to cut the shit. Most coaches don't want to be around the locker room. It's a tedious task and I often feel like I'm babysitting. A few parents have asked why I stand by the door, in a semi-accusatory tone. I pull them almost out of earshot of the locker room and let them hear the shit that starts, then I bang on the door and they appreciate my presence afterwards. Also can't tell you how many boys "accidentally" walk in on the girls locker room if I'm not standing there playing bouncer (which a few parents got to see after I'd moved only like 15' away). The same kids, over and over. Entitlement is strong in hockey too. It's mainly played by wealthy white kids. They think they can get away with anything. Some players grow up in that environment and go on to some form of coaching (let's say video coach for example). They might have gotten away with a few hazing incidents as youth hockey players, then as adults they're looking for a bigger event to raise the excitement bar... Next thing you know, you've got a victim. And hockey teams are tight. Team chemistry is very important. Tight teams often outplay more skilled teams that aren't as tight. We had a very good team a few years ago. One girl started dating a teammate's ex boyfriend. Team went to shit in no time, with 2 factions. When the 2nd girlfriend broke up with the guy, the two bonded over what a dick the guy was, and voila, the team was great again. As a coach you want to minimize issues that will negatively impact team chemistry. But you want to AVOID them, not cover them up! Not allow an alleged predator to stay with the team.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

This type of behaviour isn't new. The humans don't change. People/predators in positions of power will do shitty things to fulfill their desires unless they are checked/restrained. I don't think its solely a hockey problem...its a human problem.

I think this day and age of social connectedness gives the victims more power/voice in situations like this where before they would be marginalized. People can have a voice and no longer have to grin and bear it. And just maybe it causes those predators and those who look the other way to think twice about behaving this way.

I think back to Theo Fleury on this one (along with Sheldon Kennedy and lesser known Greg Gilhooly, Todd Holt). Brave folks!

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

Oh that's absolutely true. Penn State, Duke University, Michigan under Bo Schembechler, USA Gymnastics, the list goes on and on and on.

Hell, this isn't the first fucking time it's happened in hockey. We've all heard about and even talked about what happened when Harold Ballard owned the Leafs.

Westhead reporting that Aldrich's Blackhawks personnel file "cannot be located". It was digital. Should be recoverable, but they say it's not. How convenient. I wonder how many others would be implicated! And how damaging it would be to the Blackhawks vs Beach lawsuit... Fucking scum.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

I can't skate so I have zero idea of locker room culture in hockey, so this comes as a bit of a surprise - especially in that it sounds like gender/sex isn't necessarily a factor. But it sounds like hockey teams have a strong ingroup mentality, maybe stronger than other sports. Throw in entitlement and....

btw - tell those boys they're free to enter the girls locker room.... after they chop of their manhood. Tell them you know a guy who can do it for cheap

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What would Mad Max be like with EVs?

Rick Westhead on twitter, "Pointed out to Gary Bettman that while Blackhawks fined $2M for abuse coverup, Arizona Coyotes lost draft picks over improperly working out a prospect and that NJ Devils were fined $3M for a salary cap violation.
Bettman: “Different context, different facts.”

https://twitter.com/rwesthead/status/14 ... 6456606723

You all know my disdain for Gary Bettman. Up to this point I haven't laid blame at his feet and was hoping he would do the right thing. Yet he always finds a way to go lower. A team allows its staff to sexually abuse one of their prospects then covers it up for more than a decade and Bettman's tepid response is that it's "different?" He's being ratio'd on twitter for his comment.

Its that reoccurring theme in our society of profits over people!

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

Should be pointed out that the commissioner and Daly went out of their way to try and prevent Westhead from even asking a question, Pierre LeBrun deferred to Westhead to finally force their hand.

And ya wanna know why? Because Bettman and the NHL Brass are WAY more pissed off at Westhead for reporting in-depth on this than they are at Hawks brass for lying to their faces when they said the allegations were "without merit" and he's even angrier at Westhead than he even is at Brad fucking Aldrich.

The NHL is run by preening rich white men who care of nothing outside their own profit margins. They are horrible, toxic people.

I didn't know who Westhead was b4 now, but if there was a Walter Cronkite Award for Responsible Journalism - Westhead would be the winner.

The NHL needs an overhaul more than the Habs.

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What would Mad Max be like with EVs?

I think all of them need an overhaul. Its really hard to come up with a who is the worst. Olympics, FIFA, NFL, US Olympics gymnastics, Euro soccer, NHL, oh and perhaps my all time hate NCAA, the list just goes on and on. The only one that is actually mostly okay is the NBA, as the players have real significant power, and are more like partners than leased servants. And that is probably what it would take, an organization where power is shared from bottom to top with transparency and accountability to all.............good luck with that.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

I don't know. With how many players helped cover it up for 10-11 years (number depending on if you believe their stories that they learned of it the following year), would them having a say really mean they'd help rid the sport of such disgusting shit? I think they'd be more likely to help cover up investigations of their own actions, given what we've seen from the Blackhawks players.



As for me having to stop girls from having certain discussions- it sometimes involved dumb shit like making fun of someone's weight, or a girl starting to tell everyone what she and her boyfriend did when her parents were away the weekend before. Every now and then dumb shit like throwing a glove at someone. Nothing too bad. Boys often talked about porn. It's stuff that may be said during warmups during other sports, but more quietly because in hockey, they see the closed locker room door and assume nobody could hear them. Most hockey locker rooms have vents that go out into the hallway to help alleviate the humidity. And transfer the wonderful smell of 12-20 sweaty kids...

But that's a great idea. We have used a sign on the locker room door with their team logo (different from the boys teams), saying girls only. Maybe I'll make a new one with a cleaver cutting a hot dog and write "boys welcome- after a minor adjustment".

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

He's been heavily involved in the concussion lawsuits and other stuff. He and Katie Strang are the two most important people in hockey right now.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

I watched him being interviewed on Steve Dangle and what a thoughtful, intelligent, compassionate guy. He spoke at length about the lip service Bettman and Co does in areas they don't actually care including the "investigation" into racism & Akim Aliu while calling the NHL a "family".



I'll never underestimate the ability of greedy people to do what it takes to keep getting their money. If there is a cash incentive to reform - they will.

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What would Mad Max be like with EVs?

His 14-year old son has also been battling lymphoma and has been being treated this year.




Yup.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!