This is going to be less structured than other editions of Ice-Capades. Think of this as a rant along the lines of Anna Hudak‘s rants, in particular hers advocating for Mitch Marner to go to the Red Wings. I’m so sorry he’s not wearing the cool wheel logo, but at least he’s out of Toronto. The relationship between Marner and the Leafs’ fanbase got ugly in a hurry.
Also, another note, I wrote this piece before the verdict was declared in the Hockey Canada trial on July 24th. This piece is scheduled to come out on the morning of the verdict.
My first hockey game was Carter Hart’s last hockey game. These two facts cannot be extricated from each other, even when I joke about it. And as the goalie who I saw start my first NHL game faces charges of sexual assault alongside five of his 2018 Canada World Juniors classmates, I have to talk about what this means for me and other non-cis and or straight male hockey fans.
Maybe I should have seen this one coming. I mean, I’m a baseball fan, and there are many a domestic abuser in the league. Domingo German, Marcel Ozuna, Odubel Herrera1, Addison Russell, and Julio Urias (he got suspended twice for domestic abuse) are some of the many examples that come to mind. The same should have applied to me. But I did not see it coming, whereas more veteran hockey fans have seen this happen over and over again. Not just with domestic abuse, but with racism, anti-Semitism, and all other assortments of bigotries. Also, the 2021 Blackhawks scandal, as well, but I learned about it after the fact.
[And also FYI, both Stan Bowman and Joel Quenneville, who played key roles in covering up the sexual assault scandal, are back in the league and fucking up both the Oilers and the Ducks, respectively. They just had to take some time off and take workshops, knowing that there would always be a position for them if they waited long enough. TBH, I want the Ducks to fail simply because Quenneville is their coach. Not even Cutter Gauthier deserves having him as their coach.]
But back to the point I’m making, Carter Hart was the first time I saw it up close and personal. And by it, I mean the hockey culture featuring sexual assault of women, normalizing rape culture, and also assault, both of women and of players (I’ve linked a Katie Strang article about the latter point). Hart also gang raped a woman. Hart anchored the Flyers’ goaltending position (He sure didn’t when I saw him, allowing five goals against the Colorado Avalanche and getting pulled for Sam Errson). Hart also had a fan following because of this. And those last two points are supposed to forgive him for the first point. Hockey fans are supposed to look away from the gang rape to cheer him on when he makes saves. As long as Hart can make saves, he’s useful. As long as Dube can score, he’s useful. As long as McCleod can make plays, he’s useful. Look away from the rape, everyone, it’s McCleod splitting the D for a goal!
Example #1,000,000 of said hockey culture: Carter Hart saying that Foote shoving his genitals in E.M’s face (innocuously called “the splits”) was a cool thing he could do. Example #1,000,001 and 1,000,002: Brett Howden lying that E.M. was begging for sex. The defense for the rapists pulling out all the victim-blaming tropes for sexual assault, including “She was begging the guys to have sex with her (she asked for it redux)”, and “Why didn’t you tell your friends or anyone else about it (if you didn’t tell someone, it didn’t happen)?” It’s every single player, not only on the 2018 World Juniors Team, who did not rape E.M. but enabled it to happen, including Brett Howden and Taylor Raddish, who were in the room but did not face charges. It doesn’t matter at this point whether the six are found guilty or not, if they get blacklisted from the league or not, what matters is confronting the toxic culture at the heart of this sport and its contradictions.
[Also, when Carter Hart leaves the team is euphemistically referred to as “the situation”, instead of what it is, “gang raping a woman” when his name gets brought up, it shows that even naming what happened is uncomfortable. Naming is an important part of addressing a problem, and if people can’t find it in themselves to name what is happening with accuracy, that’s a problem.]
When Hockey Canada has a fund for settling sexual assault cases involving their players instead of actually addressing the issues in their organization, that’s a problem.
When Hockey Canada's trial for gang raping a woman is all but shrugged as just another example of the toxic hockey culture, a sideshow in the hockey season, there’s a problem.
[The only consistent coverage I got was from the Athletic and CBC Canada, but with the latter, I had to look for that! ]
The same thing applies in the junior leagues, like the OHL. The OHL gets sued for a sexual assault in 1984 (not 2018, 1984, that’s how long this fucked up culture has been around), and then still chooses to make their Onside sexual assault training optional for some teams because of the distance of in-person trainings. Like ZOOM EXISTS? I have done many a workshop and class on Zoom..like…WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK KIND OF EXCUSE IS THAT? You’ve had this training since TWENTY FUCKING SIXTEEN and STILL CANNOT MAKE IT OPTIONAL. YUP! That’s the change we get. For more on the OHL, I’m linking a piece by Katie Strang about Michael McCleod and his time in the Hockey Canada junior system here3 —.
So… what do we do? And by we, I mean the non-cis and/or straight male fans. One can, to recollect my learning from studying the Canon (tm), is to stop having heroes you build up as icons while ignoring their monstrosities4. But at the same time, I want to honor how all the non-male hockey fans felt. Let down, reminded, yet again, how men aren’t worth shit.
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