“I’d say pretty much every player said, ‘Holy shit,’ and was shocked by it,’ Sopel told TSN on Tuesday. “We were all in the same dressing room. It was something that was discussed for two or three days.”
Hmm…
Toews claims he didn’t hear about the assault until training camp the next year. During that training camp, according to the report, Beach said multiple players asked him if he “missed his boyfriend, Brad.”
Sopel and Boynton were guys closer to the bottom of the roster than the top. Beach says he witnessed meetings in Coach Quenneville’s office talking about the attack. When the scrubs know and the coach knows, it’s hard to believe the captain didn’t know. Then there’s the matter of four years later when Toews, “only 26, just a kid” was still captain of the team, now with two championship rings, and players at practice reportedly taunted Beach about the incident, in typical disgusting and homophobic fashion.
Then there were his statements to the press. It’s hard to believe this thing can keep getting worse but Hockey Guys never disappoint.
No, Jonathan, they are not good men. I realize you are only 33 (still “just a kid?”) and have lived most of your life in the toxic hypermasculine bubble world of hockey, but grow the fuck up. Not complicit? This is the definition of complicity. When men ignore sexual assault and knowingly let the suspect go on and celebrate with the Stanley Cup, your Cup, Jonathan, the one that meant so much to you, and then go on to abuse more kids, those men are evil. They should be shunned, shamed and punished.
Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising for someone who’s stood by scumbag Patrick Kane,who also, of course, praised his former GM, Stan Bowman, in a Zoom call with the media on Wednesday.
You can’t make this stuff up, folks.
It’s hard to tell if Toews and Kane were more offensive than the fact that Quenneville was still coaching the Florida Panthers last night as he awaits his meeting with the NHL. But after the NHL’s paltry $2 million fine of the Chicago hockey team, we shouldn’t expect much. It’s not just the team management, coaches and players, it’s the whole NHL, and the NHLPA, headed by Donald Fehr. Because the NHL is made up of “Hockey Guys,” and the commissioner, Gary Bettman (who has seemingly always hated hockey) is somehow the biggest Hockey Guy. And what do Hockey Guys do? They lie, they cover shit up, and they sweep it under the rug, and sometimes even blackball victims for good measure. Just like the Chicago team and the NHL tried to do with the racial violence and harassment of Akim Aliu.
Just as they did to Kyle Beach, the first-round draft pick and 52-goal scorer who spent five years in the AHL without getting into an NHL game. He had to go overseas to pursue his dream in Austria. Meanwhile, Quenneville signed a $50 million contract with Florida. Toews has made about $60 million since 2010.
Burn this whole goddamn league to the ground.
Strip Jonathan Toews of his captaincy and set the NHL on fire - Deadspin
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