Jamie Nye: NHL’s jersey decision is gutless

Opinion

The National Hockey League’s decision to scrap special pre-game jerseys was as predictable as the sunrise.

Why? Because only the NHL could come up with such a short-sighted, reactionary solution to an issue that was sparked by the ignorance and intolerance of a small few. Many of them hid behind religious beliefs even though many of the same players have worn rainbow jerseys in the past.

It was as though one player, Ivan Provorov, said no, so others around the league started to hide behind their renewed sense of religious righteousness.

Because of this handful of players and the complete B.S. excuse of a Russian law cited by the Chicago Blackhawks, the NHL’s board of governors decided to make a sweeping ruling about specialty jerseys to prevent this inconvenient headache.

So instead of taking a page from the San Jose Sharks, who handled their Pride night with a player opting out better than any team in the league, the NHL board of governors decided to use a sledgehammer.

Of course, I’d beg you to go through the roster of the NHL’s board of governors.

There are a lot of billionaire white, male heterosexuals whose toughest decisions for most of their lives was which team to buy.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a story that many of them faced a lot of hardships based on their race, sexuality or gender.

So they gave a handful of players what they wanted. Meanwhile, there were players all over the league who openly expressed the reasons why wearing a Pride jersey was meaningful to them.

Connor McDavid is the face of the NHL and was quite open about his and his teammates’ desire to wear the jerseys.

Many of these players have friends and family members who are part of the larger LGBTQ+ community.

But it’s not only the Pride jerseys. Now teams are forbidden to wear special jerseys for military appreciation nights as well as “hockey fights cancer night.”

Teams will still make the jerseys and get players to autograph them, but no longer will they take to the ice with them as a visual sign of support on game night from the players.

Commissioner Gary Bettman defended the decision because the controversy had become a distraction. How weak is the leadership of the National Hockey League?

This is a league that will go to the moon and back to defend and protect the misdeeds of some of the hockey fraternity but a few negative headlines has it quickly turfing a great show of support for a part of our community that needs more allies than ever before.

The league announced the decision on the same day the RCMP in Alberta put out a news release explaining it’s seeing a spike in hate.

“Following the vandalism of rainbow sidewalks and murals in Okotoks and Ponoka, protests against public libraries, schools and community 2SLGBTQ+ events, and other hate-related incidents that have targeted various individuals and community groups across the province over the past year, the Alberta RCMP is emphasizing the importance of Albertans reporting any actions, language or behaviour they suspect to be a hate crime or incident to police,” the Mounties said.

If there was ever a time for the NHL and as many organizations as possible to stand side by side with this community, it’s now.

But it got tough. So the NHL board of governors has decided to do less.

And the governors made the call during Pride Month, no less.

The league couldn’t have been more tone-deaf if it tried.

However, we shouldn’t be surprised. The NHL is the least diverse and most elitist sport in North America.

Unfortunately, hockey is not for everyone — and even less so today.