Off-ice incidents should serve as a wake-up call for hockey

Hockey is at a crossroads. More people are checking out the game, drawn in by its speed, its grace, its physicality. The days of going to a fight and a hockey game breaking out are quickly becoming a thing of the past, as the game has made changes on the ice to try and draw a larger audience.

However, while the game has gotten better on the ice, off the ice is a different story.

Chicago Blackhawks’ star Patrick Kane has been embroiled in controversy after a woman alleged he raped her at his home in Hamburg, New York, at the beginning of August. As of this writing, Kane has not been charged with any crime and police are still investigating, though the incident is not his first run in with the law. In 2009, he entered a guilty plea to disorderly conduct after allegedly assaulting a cab driver over not giving him change for a ride home.

Kane’s legal challenges are not even the only legal issues involving hockey players in the past year. Mike Richards of the Los Angeles Kings had his contract terminated by his team after allegedly having Oxycontin at the border in July. The player’s union has filed a grievance over his dismissal. Also in July, Ryan O’Reilly of the Buffalo Sabres was charged with impaired driving after crashing his vehicle into a Tim Hortons, an incident which was treated more with mockery rather than seriousness. Richards’ former Kings’ teammate Jarret Stoll, now with the New York Rangers, was also arrested for drug possession in April this year, with cocaine and MDMA allegedly found on him at a nightclub in Las Vegas.

In the junior ranks, there is no shortage of incidents involving players behaving badly. The Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League were investigated twice this year for incidents involving “gross indecency” in a Boston Pizza (no charges filed) and for an incident involving players allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room in Jan. 2014 (still under investigation). The University of Ottawa suspended its men’s hockey team for the 2014-15 season (and extending it another season) after two players were charged with sexual assault after an incident in February 2014.

All these incidents of off-ice behaviour happened within one year, and due to space, some are probably missing here.

Hockey fans used to proudly boast they were not like the NFL or NBA, with NHL players being the guys you can bring home to your parents and not worry about being in trouble with the law. You can’t say that with a straight face anymore.

There is an issue with the culture of hockey, where the players are put on a pedestal, told they’re the greatest ever, and feel they are invincible and the law doesn’t apply to them. The incidents outlined above should cause us to question that. They’re not gods. When they screw up, and in major ways which lead to charges, they should pay the consequences. Fans and coaches need to recognize this.

Players also need to speak up as well. Yes, the majority of players are good role models, work hard and do plenty of charity work, but there needs to be accountability when someone screws up in a major way. Teams should have players who can lead by example and take command to change the culture of the locker room, letting fellow players know their behaviour is not OK for them, or the team.

With the incidents this past year, the hockey world is now at a crossroads. There needs to be a change in the culture, from fans, from coaches, from teams, and players themselves, to help keep the great game evolving and vibrant for years to come.