Could this be Hockey Canada's time of reckoning?
Hockey fans and politicians are upset and confused. The walls are closing in. It's only a matter of time before we find out what happened and who was involved in the alleged events of June, 2018
First, an apology, for not keeping entirely up to date with the Stanley Cup final. But it’s really hard to get too worked up about a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty in overtime of Game 4 when you’re trying to unspool a gang rape that was alleged perpetrated by some of Canada’s best and brightest young hockey players, when you’re racking your brain trying to figure out why the governing body of hockey in this country paid out a likely seven-figure settlement without knowing what happened or which players were allegedly involved.
But this much is certain. Right about now, I would not want to be one of those players who is alleged to have gang raped a woman in a London, Ont., hotel room four years ago. I would not want to be incoming Hockey Canada chief executive officer Scott Smith, nor would I want to be outgoing CEO Tom Renney. I would not want to be Glen McCurdie, Hockey Canada’s former senior vice president of insurance and risk management. I would not want to be Michael Brind’Amour, who is the current chair of Hockey Canada’s board of directors and a member of the board when the incident occurred. I would not want to be Joe Drago, who was chair of Hockey Canada’s board of directors when the alleged incident occurred. I would not want to be Barry Reynard or Goops Wooldridge, who are current members of the board and were also on the board in 2018. I would not want to be current board members Terry Engen, Kirk Lamb, John Neville, Bobby Sahni, Andrea Skinner or Mary Anne Veroba. Nor would I want to be John Clements, Real Langlais, Al Hubbs, Randy Pulsifer or Ed Pupich, who were on the board when the alleged incident occurred.
(I have attempted to reach out to Hockey Canada’s board members, past and present, and have not heard back. I have also contacted each of Hockey Canada’s premier partners – Imperial Oil, Nike, Telus, TSN/RDS and Tim Hortons – to ask whether they’re considering the future of their partnerships with the organization.)
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