The past 48 hours with the Chicago Blackhawks story breaking has truly been a dark and disturbing time for the NHL and the sport of hockey. Having watched the interview with TSN reporter Rick Westhead and the victim Kyle Beach last night, I find myself truly sick to my stomach and just left with such an anger that is shared amongst a lot of hockey fans right now. There's no more pretending this stuff is an anomaly or rare instance, saying stuff like "this isn't hockey" is bogus when this IS hockey. The sport that cares more about protecting other hockey men and that "sweep it under the rug" mentality instead of actually tackling these problems head on, and so nothing changes. When winning comes at the expense of everything else, stories like this will continue to happen and foolish for us to pretend otherwise. This story is the tipping point however, there are so many high level NHL executives and even players implicated in the report that this will not go away anytime soon and damn well it shouldn't, and it's time for every last person that failed Mr. Beach the last 11 years to be held accountable.
I don't want to include any specific details about what Brad Aldrich, the former Blackhawks video coach did because honestly I find it too disturbing to read and to write the specific words in this post, but if anyone is inclined to read it here is the entire 107-page report:
Here also is the full 25-minute TSN interview with Rick Westhead and Kyle Beach that is a must watch: https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/~2307782
I want to start off by saying the obvious here: every single person in the Chicago Blackhawks organization, from top to bottom, has failed Kyle Beach. The owners the Wirtz family, all the important hockey executives: Stan Bowman, Al MacIsaac, John McDonough, Joel Quenneville, Kevin Cheveldayoff, Marc Bergevin, Bill Peters, Jay Blunk etc. Every single last one of these hockey men deserves to be fired, never to work in any level of hockey again whether that's the NHL or their kids PeeWee hockey. It's important to understand just how badly these guys covered up this story just for the sake of winning the Stanley Cup, and then denied knowing anything about it 11 years later until implicated. They allowed Aldrich to party with the Stanley Cup (in front of the victim), have his name engraved, and then recommended for a future job in hockey all while knowing what he had done to Beach. Winning was more important than reporting sexual abuse and it allowed him to prey on future victims as well, and if that doesn't infuriate you then what are we doing here?
Then there is the rest of the Blackhawks organization, starting with the team's leaders during that season: Captain Jonathan Toews, Assistant Captains Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith, all who currently still play in the NHL. The three of them all continue to play dumb like they didn't know anything occurred and even praised people like Bowman for what they did for their own careers despite the complete derelict of duty. One of the biggest issues in hockey is conformity and not wanting to walk out of line, and that's what you are seeing here is these guys don't want to risk their own careers so they just stay silent. These are three players who were pretty much locks for the Hockey Hall of Fame and now their legacy is forever tarnished, and damn right it should be. I applaud guys like Nick Boynton and Brent Sopel who were the rare ones from that 2009/10 Blackhawks team that spoke up during the matter and actually told the truth.
Then there is the NHL, starting with it's clueless leader Gary Bettman. His constant need for "working through it" in hopes of sweeping it under the rug instead of actually solving the problem is a common theme in many NHL issues today (head shots, CTE, mental health, drug use etc). The fact that he had to personally meet with Quenneville and Cheveldayoff Friday instead of both men being fired or even suspended indefinitely is exactly the problem here, what could Gary possibly do or say that would justify them keeping their jobs? It looks ignorant and just plain wrong that they are allowed to continue on like nothing happened and Bettman's leadership remains a huge issue in hockey. I think it's long overdue for a change at the top of the leadership in the NHL.
And what about the NHLPA, you know the supposed players association who should have the players backs and look out for them in situations like this. It was reported that Beach told NHLPA head Don Fehr two separate times about the situation, only to be ignored or told that it was not worth looking into. The same Don Fehr who 11 years later still remains in charge of the NHLPA. What the hell is this man's job if he isn't interested in looking into a situation like this? The NHLPA has already shown they don't care about player's health and safety and it's time old hockey men like Don Fehr are shown the door.
Perception is everything in hockey. It allowed us for years to believe Beach (11th overall pick in 2008) was a bust and never made it to the NHL because of many different reasons that never mentioned what he was actually going through. It also allowed us to believe for years that the Blackhawks were a model organization, not just that they won so often but that they did it with class. It allowed us to believe Jonathan Toews "aka Captain Serious" was a role model leader and one of the best in all of professional sports. It's important to understand this idea of conformity "if you aren't with the team you're against it" is something that exists in all levels of hockey down to youth hockey, which is why this story is so much more then just an NHL issue its a hockey culture issue.
And yet as Beach gave his stunning, emotional, and truly gut-wrenching interview with Westhead at 6pm, there was Joel Quenneville standing behind the Panthers bench at 7pm coaching an NHL game and refused to speak to the media before or after. The fact that the NHL or the Panthers didn't step in and at least suspend him until he meets with Bettman is just so insulting to Beach and to this entire process and it speaks volumes. It basically showed the Panthers care more about winning, which is exactly what Quenneville did in the first place not wanting to cause a distraction and "ruin chemistry" to win the Stanley Cup. This also applies to both Kevin Cheveldayoff (Jets GM) and Marc Bergevin (Canadiens GM) who continue to work their current NHL jobs but act like nothing is wrong.
A recurring pattern among people from the Blackhawks organization (and people defending them in general) is the idea of referring to what happened to Beach as a "mistake" and that's just so wrong for so many reasons. A mistake is when you forgot to take the trash out before the garbage truck came. This entire situation and the cover-up for 11 years wasn't random, it was calculated and meticulous to sweep everything under the rug. Aldrich had a method for preying on his victims and holding their hockey career's as hostage, and has shown zero remorse for his actions, that is not a mistake. Sweeping it under the rug in order to win a Stanley Cup, that is not a mistake. Calling it a mistake sympathizes with the perpetrator instead of the victim, the same way that Toews/Kane praising Bowman for being a "good person" does no good. The only person who deserves any amount of sympathy is Kyle Beach and the other victims.
When writing this post I asked myself "what can I do to help?" besides just speaking out. One of my biggest passions in life is reading hockey books (175+ read), and there are certain books that tackle these difficult issues in hockey that should be required reading for all. Here are a few that I've read that I highly recommend:
1. Game Misconduct: Hockey's Toxic Culture and How to Fix It by Evan Moore and Jashvina Shah
2. Finding Murph: How Joe Murphy Went From Winning a Championship to Living Homeless in the Bush by Rick Westhead
3. Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey by Cecil Harris
4. Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard by John Branch
5. Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador, and the Future of Hockey by Ken Dryden
6. Playing with Fire by Theo Fleury
I want to end with this, and it's a tough thing to realize: The Blackhawks cared more about covering up for a video coach then they did protecting the victim, a player in their own organization and they did this because they decided winning was more important then all. This enabled Aldrich to not only find future employment (with recommendation and reference from the Blackhawks!) in hockey but prey on future victims, and it was just heartbreaking to watch Kyle Beach apologize for not doing more as if it was his fault and not the layers upon layers of the hockey world that failed him every step of the way. The burden that he must have been keeping for these 11 years is just unfathomable and I can't even begin to describe how brave and courageous he is for telling his story to the world, and I hope for his own sake that some weight was lifted off his shoulders and he can find some peace and healing. What he did last night is more important than anything he did on the ice in his career and while that was never fair to him it's going to create must needed change in the sport for the better.
Thank you Kyle Beach
To everyone in the Blackhawks organization who failed you, they don't deserve to work in hockey for the rest of their sad, pathetic lives. The time for change is now folks, and you are on the wrong side of history if you don't believe so. Lastly to the investigative reporters who refused to let this story die, namely Rick Westhead and Katie Strang, you are the epitome of professionalism and the world needs more journalists like you.
Believe victims today and every day
Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff
