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World juniors open under cloud

Event faces fallout from Hockey Canada sex assault scandal, with unsold tickets, empty ad spots

KEVIN MCGRAN

It’s a world junior men’s hockey championship like no other.

And that’s not necessarily a good thing.

From a hockey perspective, it’s being played in the summer — replacing the winter tournament that was cancelled a few days in, after the Omicron variant of COVID-19 overwhelmed the event. And the rosters have changed, with Canada losing some star power with the likes of Owen Power, Shane Wright and Kaiden Guhle (who captained the December team) unavailable this time.

But more, it’s the cloud that hangs over the tournament with Hockey Canada taking a beating for mishandling sex assault allegations involving the 2018 champion team and using a reserve fund to settle several lawsuits.

Big corporations have pulled sponsorship money and the ice at Rogers Place is advertising-free, with only the IIHF event logo at centre. The boards are largely devoid of ads — only an IIHF app and Swiss watchmaker Tissot have spots.

There were also more than 1,000 tickets still available for several games, including Canada’s opener against Latvia on Wednesday.

It makes the event look distinctly down market.

And whether it’s because of the timing or the scandal, thousands of tickets remain unsold — including for Canada’s games — and Edmonton lacks buzz about the tournament. It’s unheard of for the world juniors in Canada, but perhaps to be expected.

“There are steps we’ve taken,” said Canadian coach Dave Cameron. “We did a sexual violence thing. We did a code of conduct thing. But the big thing we hammer in these guys is that in this profession, at these big events, you go pro. You go under the spotlight. You have a way that you represent hockey.

“These guys are involved, and we’re comfortable with the character of the guys we have.”

In the past, Canada’s players signed a document acknowledging they had read pamphlets about codes of conduct and sexual violence.

This year, as part of Hockey Canada’s action plan in response to the scandal, things are different. Senior officials went through the codes of conduct line by line to help players understand what’s expected. A representative from the Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse followed up with more player workshops.

“(They did) a great job of informing us on lots of things: consent, the ideals of a perfect man and a perfect woman,” defenceman Ryan O’Rourke told TSN. “We learned a lot about words, and the way different things that are said can have a major impact.”

Eight still unnamed junior players allegedly assaulted a woman in London, Ont. after a Hockey Canada event in 2018. The governing body settled her lawsuit, but reopened its investigation, as have London police, after an national outcry denounced the sport’s national governing body for basically letting the players off the hook, and a parliamentary committee twice dressing down its leadership.

Hockey Canada chair Michael Brind’Amour stepped down Aug. 6, two days after it was announced that former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell, C.C. would lead an independent review of the organization’s structures and systems.

It’s a start, says Andrea Gunraj, vice-president of public engagement at the Canadian Women’s Foundation.

“We need to turn a new leaf,” said Gunraj. “If this tournament and everything that comes out of it is a real kind of moment for us as Canadian hockey lovers, and if it can be used as an opportunity to really make a break with the past and absolutely say this is how we’re going to move forward, and be really specific about the plans and the outcomes, then I think something that’s really positive can come out of something so awful.”

There remain calls for more change at the top. Brind’Amour held a volunteer position and was already planning to leave in November. It’s Scott Smith, just promoted to the top job as president from chief operating officer, whose seat is the hottest.

The tournament gets underway Tuesday (Canada opens Wednesday against Latvia) with players cast in a very different light than the last one. They have traditionally been put on pedestals for excelling at a sport that means so much to Canadians. But that has come with a cost.

“We’ve been protecting them when they’ve been doing unhealthy, negative things, abusive things, and we haven’t been holding them accountable,” said Gunraj. “We have to switch the way that we do it. We have to hold up the players who are doing really well in terms of safe and respectful and healthy behaviour.

“Hockey can be a leader. It can actually transform things in very powerful ways, because people really do take hockey so seriously. There’s a power there for them to enact. If we put people in leadership in hockey who have expertise in change and culture and changing this dynamic, it could be a really positive thing for us.”

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2022-08-09T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-09T07:00:00.0000000Z

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