Soakin’ in the Tubb: The rink lights will always stay on

By JAMES TUBB on October 12, 2022.

What is hockey? Hockey is waking up early and travelling to a tournament, not before making a stop at Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate and apple cider (for dad) and playing alongside some of your best friends for a trophy that will sit proudly on my dresser for years to come.

Hockey is an 18-year-old calling home to mom and dad to tell them they’ve made the NHL, completing an almost two-decade dream and commitment from the entire family.

Hockey is families around the country sitting in front of the TV watching Team Canada in the World Juniors at Christmastime, with young kids ignoring new toys because they’re too busy dreaming about being on the world stage themselves.

Hockey is not, never has been nor ever will be about CEOs or boards of directors who collect absurdly large pay cheques and, as we’ve been learning about for more than three months, cover up atrocities such as sexual assaults.

The sport of hockey is enough of a national pastime it will survive the much needed turnover and (hopefully) complete disbanding of the Hockey Canada brand, if it even still stands today.

Despite the now former interim chair of Hockey Canada’s board of directors Andrea Skinner’s threats disguised as fears, the lights will stay on in rinks across Canada. Not because Hockey Canada the brand exists, but because there is an unrelenting passion for the sport and what it can provide people of all ages.

The cleaning of house that occurred within Hockey Canada on Tuesday, with Scott Smith stepping down as president and CEO and the board of directors resigning, is only the beginning of what needs to be a much larger process.

The first priority has to be holding those involved with the 2018, 2003 (and likely more) sexual assault scandals accountable and bringing justice to all involved. It does not matter who it is, whether they are in the NHL, AHL, Swedish Elite League or Walmart on the strip, accountability for all involved has to be the sole focus ahead.

The next step, and it should not start until accountability has been reached, is to change how Hockey Canada operates and what it provides the sport and country. The amount of money dedicated solely to the men’s program has to be adjusted and allocated throughout the women’s, minor hockey and para-hockey programs.

If Hockey Canada, or whatever they change the name to if they decide to rebrand( I vote Canada Hockey Development Program), is dedicated to growing the sport throughout the country, they have to mean it. That means building the sport across the different divisions of the game, not just the side that builds NHL players.

While Hockey Canada has all of its closets investigated, the sport will survive in this country.

Connor Bedard will still score big goals at this winter’s World Juniors with the Maple Leaf on his chest. The Kinplex will still be open with the lights as bright as can be, and the sights and sounds of minor hockey roaring throughout the two rinks.

Hockey will be played in this country with or without Hockey Canada and its new board members. The puck is in their end to prove whether they will add anything positive to it, or simply exist to tarnish the sport and country’s name once again.

James Tubb is a sports reporter with the Medicine Hat News. He can be reached at jtubb@medicinehatnews.com.