Oh, sure

Apparently, the head of Hockey Canada, Scott Smith, thinks he is the right guy to clean up the tangle of million-dollar lawsuits it has paid out under the table to victims of sexual abuse and other crimes.  Oh, sure you are, buddy.  Aren't you the guy in charge?  

After the initial, years' long coverups, Hockey Canada issued a statement shot with powerful adjectives such as "abhorrent" and "repulsive", promising to get to the bottom of things.  Then it made sure to cover itself in case that turned out to be too much trouble.  "To the extent this may involve players who are now in the NHL, we will determine what action, is any, would be appropriate."  I love the "if any" part.  Talk about a literal get-out-of-jail-free card, this is a real beaute.  

Hockey Canada is finished, but we still have Smith asserting he is going to stay on and even lead an international tournament in Edmonton in a month.  Right now, he and his sidekicks are getting hot-pokered by MPs on the Hill.  And still the guy digs in.  He should have resigned -- or better yet, that sorry excuse for a minister and disgrace to her gender, Pascale St Onge, should have fired him immediately when this pickle first surfaced.  

Furiously trying to save his own skin, Smith issued a 19-page eye glazer that aimed to "shatter the code of silence" (that Hockey Canada created) and "eliminate toxic behaviour" (that Hockey Canada condoned, ignored and rewarded for generations).  Hockey Canada is so far gone it can't see what's happening.  What it's doing is leeching the wound.  What exactly does Hockey Canada do anyway?  Why does it exist?  Why are you and I paying for it?  If Hockey Canada had an iota of sense, it would be spending 24 hours a day trying to figure out to whom to surrender.  But it doesn't.  Smith just keeps digging in and tripling down.  Dumb 'cause this ain't goin' away.

Hockey Canada is a zoo keeper, trying to corral the animals and protect them when they gang rape someone.  "Players, no matter their skill, must know they cannot act with impunity," said game warden CHL president Dan MacKenzie.  It's the "no matter their skill" part that gets me.  In other words, if they are real superstars, they will get a hall pass.  The payouts have to happen before the NHL draft so no one comes out and squeals.  The sex-abuse piggy bank has to pay out before these "wonderful young men" get to stand with their "wonderful" parents during the draft and humbly accept their accolades.  

As Cathal Kelly pointed out in 'The Globe and Mail', what no one has bothered to do during all of this is rebut the idea that young men who are good at hockey are also inherently perverse.  Not some of them, all of them.  They get to do what they like to whomever is unlucky enough to cross their paths in the wrong hotel room late at night.  They've been pampered and excused since they were five years old.

For Hockey Canada, it's, "If you're caught, deny.  If you're really caught, find someone else to blame.  And if there's no one left to blame, blame the game and everyone in it."  Smith actually had the audacity to say his future bonuses -- bonuses! -- should be tied to this clean-up effort.  That's beyond it!

But, as I said, the NHL players I dated back-in-the-day were perfect gentlemen.  There was complete respect of me and whatever happened, or didn't, was my choice.  Evidently, that culture has disappeared.  What TF is the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner doing about all this!?  Seriously!?  That guy also needs to resign.  

Here's the boys' club running Hockey Canada.  Ever seen a bunch of guys looking so smug and out-of-it?  Me neither.