Stick to Sports 63: The NHL Draft, Logan Mailloux and Blackhawks

Hi everyone, so I actually fell asleep before the end of the draft because I’m a chronic Insomniac so I have a hard time staying up at night, and I woke up at 430 in the morning, as I often do now, and that’s when I found out that the Canadians had dropped in Logan Mio. Now, I actually don’t know how to pronounce his name and I looked through the London night sight but I couldn’t find it so I it’s very important to me to pronounce people’s names right. If I didn’t, I’m sorry I couldn’t find it anywhere. But I was absolutely shocked and disgusted. And second, that, and it was two things in succession, because first. He was drafted, and then the Blackhawks had the gall to stand up there with, like, eight women and Stan Bowman, said something about making the organization better, and it was just absolutely disgusting, like incredibly just disgusting. Going back to logon and drafting him. The common theme. Okay so, if anything, I think this is a longer discussion. I’m gonna go with some basics first and then I’ll expand but number one what Logan did is not a mistake, you know he had consensual sex with a woman but then he took a picture without her consent and he distributed it without her consent. That is not a mistake that is a malicious attack that is extremely, extremely malicious. You know it’s not a mistake, and this is a common theme we see really in society with boys and men where they can do something horrible and people just chalk it up to a mistake but it’s not a mistake. And, I mean you know hockey did this recently with Mitchell Miller right like his bullying has chronic bullying wasn’t a mistake. That’s not a mistake. And, you know he had for cused quote unquote recused himself from the draft what you can actually do, you’re still available to be picked, and you know he, like, the victim had told Katie Strang that, you know, she never got an adequate apology from him which completely just crosses that off, you know, he never apologized, except for in his public Notes app statement. And, you know, even if he had apologized to her. I don’t believe that there are, I don’t believe in second chances for people who do things like that, because it’s very deliberate, very malicious, and you know you can ruin someone, and you can the harm you can do to someone, when you do something like that is just terrific. Even if we do believe in second chances, which, again, in this case, I don’t believe that I do, but he never even apologize to her. He never, he never got gave her what she was asking for. And that automatically just should have wiped him off the draft board completely, I’m not shocked that it didn’t. I’m disgusted, but I’m not shocked. And the other thing is that, you know, playing, playing at hockey at a high level is a privilege, not a right. And you don’t deserve that, if you are malicious like that and if you hurt someone like that and if you, you, you don’t deserve that. He does not deserve that. Now, the Canadians, it’s just really truly important. Anyway, they actually had prepared a statement. Yes they did. They prepared a statement on drafting him. And I’m going to read the statement to you. The Canadians have released the following statement after selecting defenseman Logan mile 31st and the 2021, NHL draft on Friday night by drafting prospect Logan mio with a 31st overall pick the Montreal Canadiens organization not only selected a promising hockey player, but also a young man who recently admitted a serious mistake admitted to making a serious mistake. The Canadians are aware of the situation and by no means minimize the severity of Logan’s actions. Logan understands the impact of his actions his recent public statement is a genuine acknowledgement of his poor behavior and his first step on his personal journey. We are making a commitment to accompany Logan on this journey by providing him with the tools to mature the necessary support to guide him in his development. We’re also committed to raising awareness among our players about the risk of public percussions of their actions on the lives of others. That’s the statement. I’m going to scream.

First of all,

and it’s actually, it’s, I’ve been thinking a lot about this because when I, when we wrote the book I went back and I was writing the section on, you know, sexual assault, sexual violence, and I, you know, have a few examples where players have been sent to jail for rape. And, you know, still played hockey pro hockey so the most recent example that comes to mind is Ben Johnson, and that he signed on with the Cincinnati cyclones and they released a statement that was very similar to this and structure, or basically they were like We don’t minimize what he did. Oh the Cincinnati also went ahead and said something like, we, you know, would have been the easy thing to not to not sign him which is absolute just total I just It’s horrific like this whole thing is horrific. But it was pretty much the same thing, where they’re like, we’re gonna give them, you know, it

was

that the general sense of it was, we don’t minimize what happened, but we’re totally still okay with drafting this person or signing this person, which is contradictory, it means you absolutely do minimize what happened, you those two things do not go together it’s an oxymoron, you can’t take what he did seriously and still think it’s okay to draft him. And, again, not a mistake, not a freaking mistake. And I know I saw when I was scrolling at 430 in the morning that people on Twitter were saying if you have to release a statement. If you have to have a statement prepared for a prospect to draft you probably should not be drafting that prospect. And this is also the same team that traded PKC ban because of quote unquote character issues so yeah like I mean, if I feel like as a society, we’re kind of shifting towards this is we’re doing this, our horribleness and our, you know, giving a safe space for abusers we’re doing all of that more in public now than we used to as a society. That’s just the trend that I’m seeing with things like this with you know, no repercussions for the Blackhawks right now. And then you know the last part about committed to accompanying Logan on his journey you know provided him with the tools. We said this when Arizona drafted Mitchell Miller, you do not have anything. There is, there is no reasoning behind why you would be a good organization to develop his care To quote unquote develop his character or leave him, you know, make put him on the street of being a better quote unquote person, you know you’re not an organism, you’re a hockey organization in your hockey organization with a proven track record of not knowing what character issues are and, you know, racism and all that other fun stuff. So, I don’t. You’re there’s nothing there is absolutely nothing that indicates that Canadians are the right organization to make him a better person. And again, the fact that they would be willing to put effort into this, when they wouldn’t do whatever Piquet’s character flaws. I just you know it’s it’s such blatant racism and it’s such as hockey is just like a breeding ground to harbor and a safe space for abusers. And it’s just this whole thing is horrific. I mean he just should not have been drafted. And, I mean, you know media is out here tweeting about crackin as I, you know, wrote in my, I wrote a piece on Patreon about the Blackhawks and, you know, people were pointing out that they’re tweeting of all the crack and expansion draft picks but literally no one say anything about the Blackhawks. No one’s saying anything about the fact that he was still on. You know my I was still on teams draft boards that that’s the important, I just you know what I mean and then I’ve seen a lot of quote unquote insiders be outrageous about this but like these are the same people who enabled this behavior for like decades. So it’s all, to me it’s all just like, you know, if, if you were scared to do with that or for whatever reason, like, you know, please save your indignation, because we see right through you and it’s still just like a slap in the face so you know what, it’s ridiculous. If you had spoken out about this sooner or like if the media had actually called, you know, held hockey accountable somewhere along the way we might not even be here but their refusal to means that we are here and that we’re here at a much more embolden place where teams feel like they can draft a player like him, and the first round. And that it’ll be okay. And I mean, my heart, you know, my heart goes out to the survivor the victim. And what she and her family must be going through and I just, I’m so sorry for them, and I feel terrible for them. And, I mean there’s no reason why his redemption arc is more important than her life and her well being and her peace of mind. You know,

it’s just,

I mean, but the way you know the way. Hockey treats victims like I wrote this again yesterday, that you know after my sexual assault, I felt like you know I couldn’t go back because just the way hockey treats victims, it’s just so horrendous. Which brings me to the next point.

The,

what do you call that my gosh. The Blackhawks also should change their name, but that’s a debate for another day. Got up their stand Oh, way way way Wait as Sam so lovely pointed out. I have defined this in the statement I moved to my Windows. The GM who drafted Logan Mio. Marc Bergevin is the same person who was with Chicago in 2010 that silence is intentional because I want that to let it, I want that to sink in for a minute. Yeah, I don’t think I even need to say anything. And it’s a good segue into the Blackhawks who had the audacity to stand up there with eight women and say that they want to make themselves a better organization and like, From where I’m standing, I’m honestly not okay with those women working for the Blackhawks because they are being used as a shield, and I know that pickings for women are slim. And I want them to get what they deserve. But it’s just empowering an organization that has, you know is currently, you know, being sued for alleged abuse and cover up. And that’s just not okay and I’m not okay with that. And I know people have said like they don’t blame the woman, and I’m not saying that I do blame them, but I’m just not okay with them standing up there with Stan Bowman, as he says what he says. I just, it was horribly disgusting and an even bigger slap in the face I mean I wrote extensively about why I believe Chicago should be disbanded in a post on Patreon. But I, I just wanted to add that. It’s that the black I mean this, this, this, the fact that it happened right after one another, I mean it’s just absurd. This whole thing is just ridiculous and I, you know, it’s, and then ESPN had the segment after my I was drafted about canceled culture, where he said the guy said you know I don’t believe in canceled culture. I don’t even have the energy to just ESPN has a trash heap, but I don’t even have the energy to deal with that so I’m keeping it short today but it’s also 840 in the morning and I, I don’t know I mean everything is pretty, pretty blatant, like I don’t really need to explain anything. It’s just that nobody wants to say anything when there are like three people are going to say anything and I don’t cover the NHL anymore so I don’t have an avenue to really do anything. Besides this, which I don’t know if it’s helpful or not, but it’s all it’s wild that Evan and I, our book has already been printed and nothing has changed in fact I feel like things have actually gotten worse since we started writing it so I’m just like this. None of this is even in there, because it’s all happened after it was written. And I mean, you know the Blackhawks can be a book on itself.

But

anyway, that’s all I’m gonna say. So, questions, comments, concerns, you can tweet at me at ice hockey stick at underscore sec to sports. I guess I’ll see you all eventually or talk to you all eventually have a have a weekend fighting. White patriarchal supremacy.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Prompt: Defenseman

Adam’s mother closed the door behind them. His father was off on a business trip, and Adam was content to sit on the couch until his mother addressed him. She worked long hours in the city, and was fone more than his father. Adam preferred it this way. His father could be strict, but his mother was terrifying.

She came back from the kitchen, drink of water in her hands. Her red blouse was still tucked into her black pencil skirt, her heels finally getting kicked off.

“What the hell is going on?”

“I told you mom. I don’t know. I barely even know the guy.”

“Clearly since you were the last one seen fighting with him. And clearly since pparently you’ve been at his house multiple times to party?”

Adam shifted. “You know how it is, everyone just goes to someone’s house,” he mumbled.

“Excuse me?” She said. “No I don’t ‘know how it is.'” What do you think this is? Some kind of trash town we dumped you in so you can smoke and do coke?”

“Mom! It wasn’t even coke ok. I just drank. Whatever he had, I don’t know. And for the record yeah this kind of is a trash town. A lot of kids have nothing else to send their money on but drugs.”

Silence. Finally, “don’t talk back to me. Ever.”

HE hung his head. “Sorry mom.”

“I’m so embarassed and ashamed. And now you could be arrested.”

“Arrested? Mom I didn’t do anything! And you said they didn’t have enough evidence to hold me!”

“Did you — and I am only going to ask you this one, so you had better answer truthfully — have anything to do with that boy’s death?”

“No mom, I swear.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Go to your room.”

Not bothering to argue, Adam slithered up the stairs and went into his room, closing the door behind him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, thankful that at least in all of this, she’d forgotten to take it from him.

The lock screen was bursting with notifications. He was about to unlock his phone when the window rattled. Adam looked outside.

It was Joshua, one of Marcsus’ defensemen.

Prompt: Icing

Payal chewed her nails as she looked at the T.V. “Damnit,” she said as the Predators iced the puck. She threw the wet rag on the table and frowned.

“Please, don’t curse while you’re on a shift.” It was her manager, blond-haired Becca. Becca was just a year older than Payal, a senior in their high school. But much like her hair, everyone considered her golden. Payal nodded as she tugged at her TGIF’s shirt, noticing how ill-fitting it was on her but well-fitting it was on Becca.

“Sorry, Becca,” Payal finished sweeping the crumbs off the table. It was a Wednesday night so the place was empty, unless the chairs were occupied by ghosts. Which, it probably was. She leaned against the table and turned back to the TV, aware that her inattention to work would earn her another scolding. But there was nothing to do anyway.

Bells clanged as the door opened. Putting on her best smile, Payal turned around. And then she frowned.

It was some of the boys from the hockey team.

Payal was surprised they were out this late. Wait, no, she wasn’t. Keeping her smile on, she walked over to the door.

“How can I help you?”

It was a group of boys from her grade — Max, Lyle, Ankit, Sol and Adam. Max smiled. Adam hung in the back, unsurprising after his gaffe had cost the team the game last night.

“Just you five?”

“Yeah,” Max said. The charmer of the group, with his dimple, neat black hair and deep brown skin. He was the only one of the group who knew how to socialize and act normal.

“Well,” she gestured behind her, “it’s pretty empty so… is there one place you want to sit?”

Max shrugged. “Anywhere is fine.” She just stared at him. Ankit pointed to a table near the door. “There, Max said, “We’ll sit there.”

Payal nodded, gathered menus and walked to their table. She shifted back to the cash register and chewed on a nail as she watched them. Adam seemed like a normal human being, no starry eyes or lack of awareness.

Still, she wondered what he’d seen.

Because she’d seen it too.