We need to blow up Hockey Canada, but not just because of one scandal

When Hockey Canada was first confronted with the reality of his connection to an alleged sexual assault, he was offended that anyone expected him to defend himself.

“We have settled this matter and as part of this settlement, we will not comment further,” the organization said in a statement five weeks ago.

Last week, with all of his sponsorship money leaving the building through a third-story window, he was ready to comment further.

“Hockey Canada is on a journey to change our sport’s culture and values ​​blah blah blah blah blah including changes blah blah…” – now you could write this gibberish from memory.

You never understand if companies write these things because they don’t have better ideas or because they sincerely think it will work. What happened to an old-fashioned mass resignation?

Amid now-daily calls and responses, people are asking Hockey Canada sponsors to pick a side; they respond by running away screaming – there is the overriding question of morality.

How could a moral organization end up in the same boat as Hollywood’s sexual predators and the former President of the United States – the kind of people who run around to cover up crimes with money?

The answer is that big business is neither moral nor immoral. Once they reach a certain size, they are amoral. They only exist to protect and propagate themselves. This process is accelerated if the mission is holy.

TSN and RDS maintain partnerships with Hockey Canada as sponsors suspend support for settlement of sexual assault allegations

Opinion: The Big Moral Question Now Facing Hockey Canada Sponsors

Hockey Canada was born over 50 years ago with one simple motivation – to beat the Soviets by any means necessary.

Canada’s loose amateur approach was good for safeguarding the spirit of hockey, but it was not good for foreign wars. It’s time to bring in some tough, pipe-smoking businessmen to go medieval on the commies.

Unlike most visionary measures supported by the federal government, it worked. It worked so well that Hockey Canada started to expand.

The next step was as inevitable as the grave. Created to do one thing, Hockey Canada began to believe it had to do it all.

They weren’t just a bunch of good old boys saying, “Hey, Wayne Gretzky is pretty good. What if we put him on Team Canada? then sell some sweaters. No, they were on a pilgrimage to bring hockey to the masses.

It didn’t matter that the masses already had hockey up to their necks. What mattered was convincing people that they could do what had already been done, only better.

Since everyone involved is Canadian, no one told them they were doing work that no one needed. Half a century later, they are still claimed to have a real function – like a mechanic or a bus driver. But what does Hockey Canada really do?

Administer the game? The game was administered long before it appeared and it will be administered when it is gone. All he did was put a capital “a” on administer. The result is that nearly half of Hockey Canada’s budget is spent on “administration”.

Develop the game? This country was oversaturated with it long before Hockey Canada arrived. Growing hockey in Canada is like growing snow in the Arctic. All that happened under his leadership was that hockey went from a pastime played by everyone to an obsession dominated by a wealthy elite.

Support the game? The game has a lot of support now and always has. What Hockey Canada has introduced into the mix is ​​sponsorship. That’s where the corporations give it a lot of money, they make up for all the seats in the bottom bowl, and the corporations do TV commercials about regular people celebrating hockey games they can’t afford to go to. In economics, this was once called fattening the pig. You are the pig.

Managing the national team? Are you kidding me? You could lead the national team. A monkey with a laser pointer could choose the team and you could say, “Maybe we should start Poulin in the middle?” and, boom, Olympic gold medal. Great job, monkey. Great job, you.

Le Décibel: Hockey Canada, allegations of sexual assault and the culture of secrecy

So, and I say this with all due respect to the sacred rites of winter, who cares? I need Canada to win the world junior championships like I need another Tim Hortons ad about Sidney Crosby working at the drive-thru. If the point of these Canadian hockey commercials is to make me want to root for Sweden, they do an amazing job.

So while playing for Team Canada can be difficult, choosing Team Canada isn’t difficult. Managing Team Canada is not difficult. Marketing Team Canada is not difficult. It’s Canada. Anyone could do it.

(If Hockey Canada wants to launch Hockey Ecuador instead, I’m willing to reconsider.)

But it’s boring to talk about the work of hockey, of which there is not enough to fill an eight-hour day. It’s much more fun to talk about mission statements and visions.

According to the “Mandate and Mission” page of its website, Hockey Canada’s current vision is “World Sport Leaders”. That’s it. Just “Vision” and, below, “World Sports Leaders”.

Like, he sees them, or he’s a, or he wants to be a or what? Do not say. I guess his mandate does not include copy editing.

His mandate doesn’t include many things – transparency, responsiveness, sports leadership, good judgment, the most instinctive and self-interested common sense.

Even a fool knows when he’s in trouble. Through its statements of the last few weeks, Hockey Canada does not seem to have the sense of an idiot. He whistles his way into the institutional graveyard.

As usual when it comes to scandals of this kind, what surprises is that everyone is surprised. People are nimble, but companies are thick. They seize up under pressure. Right now, Hockey Canada is a lobster issuing press releases while the water around it is boiling.

It is assumed that there are many ways to reform Hockey Canada, and that a mass of public money is about to be spent to explore them.

There’s a simple, cost-effective way to handle the job: blow up Hockey Canada. Atomize it. Scatter his ashes across the country.

You want “grassroots” sport – a word Hockey Canada waves the same way villagers wave to vampires – so let’s do it. Allow real people in real places to run the game where it lives. Completely forget the costumes.

It shouldn’t be done just because of a single scandal. This should be done because the institution is no longer fit for purpose.

Hockey Canada was created to make this country the greatest hockey nation on Earth. Mission accomplished. Now his primary objective is to ensure the survival of Hockey Canada. The past few weeks are an example of where that kind of thinking takes you.