Loving Hockey, Even When Hockey Doesn’t Love Me Back.
Photo by Nadyia Rivera
Don’t let Team USA keep you away from hockey!
Hockey is a sport that has been exclusionary longer than it has been inclusionary. It can be easy to get pushed away from being a fan of the sport when the culture is in desperate need of some change (if not a total overhaul). But still, I stay, because a culture cannot change if no one is there to change it.
Recently, the U.S. men’s hockey team has made headlines, not for their historic gold medal, but for their behavior following that win. Shortly after they won Olympic gold for the first time in 46 years–the third time ever–a video was released of the men’s team celebrating with FBI Director Kash Patel in their locker room. Shortly after this video was released, another was leaked showing President Donald Trump’s phone call to Team USA. In this video, Trump is heard joking that he has “to invite the Women’s team” or else he will be impeached. This joke is met with raucous laughter from the men’s team.
It is important to note that the women’s hockey team also won gold, and they did so in the most dominant fashion in Olympic hockey history, setting the record for the longest Olympic hockey shutout streak ever. The men’s team’s blatant disregard for the women’s team’s accomplishments makes it clearer than ever that hockey is a boys’ club. Unfortunately, it does not end there. Tuesday morning, the team (minus five players) flew to the White House via Air Force One and personally met President Trump, shaking hands and taking photos. It is one thing to party with a man actively covering up the Epstein Files, but to gleefully meet the man named numerous times in them?
Three of the players on Team USA (Matt Boldy, Brock Faber, and Quinn Hughes) live and work in Minnesota and are just minutes away from Minneapolis, the city where ICE protests are actively happening, and citizens have been murdered for taking a stand against ICE. Auston Matthews is the first Mexican-American to captain an Olympic hockey team, let alone the first to medal. Matthews’ mother is an immigrant. Charlie McAvoy is an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and has attended several pride parades. In spite of this, all of these men gladly met with the closest thing the United States has ever seen to a dictator.
Almost every player on the men’s team, if asked by the media, has stated that this was not a political moment. I find that hard to believe when players are seen taking pictures wearing MAGA hats. Many of the players have expressed their frustrations with their celebration being turned into a political moment. It is unclear what they expected the result of partying with a political figure as prominent as the Director of the FBI to be.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pictured with Team USA players (left to right) Jeremy Swayman, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Tage Thompson, and Connor Hellebuyck.
As a minority hockey fan, all of this is disappointing but not surprising. Hockey has always been a conservative sport, one with an incredibly high barrier to entry. Many players go to private schools specifically to play hockey or live abroad as teens to play in other leagues. According to a report done by the NHL in 2022, around 83.6% of the NHL and its employees are white. Also in 2022, Mike Grier, General Manager of the San Jose Sharks, became the first Black GM in NHL history. It is a sport that is rarely accessible to non-wealthy, non-white people, and the culture greatly reflects that.
When I talk to my friends about hockey, and my frustrations with the lack of inclusivity in the sport, it becomes really easy to wonder why I even care. Why should I, or any other hockey fan that does not fit the very small box the league accepts, put so much time, money, and energy into supporting the sport?
I continue to be a fan of hockey despite the actions like those on Team USA because I know that allowing myself to be pushed out of the sport is exactly what they want. If no change is made, what has been a boys’ club for centuries, will stay a boys’ club. I do not just love hockey out of spite though.
When I watch games or visit the SAP Center with my friend, the reasons to love hockey make themselves clear. When you find the right people, the right community, hockey can become a comfort. There is nothing that compares to the feeling of watching your favourite team score a goal, the excitement that erupts throughout the entire rink, the cheers with your friends. Finding community in a sport with a culture like the one hockey has is something I thought would be difficult, but time and time again I have been proven wrong. While the men’s team’s actions reflect the culture of the sport now, my hope is that hockey will continue to grow. I hope that my and other hockey fans’ continued effort to keep an open and accepting community alive is something that is rewarded in the future.
Sources:
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/34824468/nhl-releases-first-diversity-inclusion-report