Governor General fears NHL playoff violence sets a bad example for children

Violence during the NHL playoffs is anti-Canadian and sets a worrisome example for children aspiring to be hockey players, says the Governor General.

David Johnston, once a competitive hockey player in his own right, calls it “the beautiful game” because of the speed, skill and teamwork.

But he fears the mounting violence that he sees — especially during the playoffs — is creating a culture that undermines everything hockey should be.

“When our kids see this beautiful game where the idea is to injure someone, or to escalate the level of conflict every time the play stops, it’s just not the way we raise our children,” he said in an interview at Rideau Hall.

“And so that worries me. Particularly because it’s such a beautiful game. It’s the fastest game in the world because it’s played on skates. It requires intricate team work and play-making.

“The head shots and the fighting have no place in it.”

Johnston says he watches every game he can fit into his travel schedule, and was disappointed to have missed the Ottawa Senators’ winning goal in overtime on Wednesday night.

He was able to scramble to a television screen shortly after the game was over, in time to catch the replay.
Johnston also caught the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh game earlier this week that was marked by repeated fighting — even after the whistle — leading to suspensions.

Behaviour like that undermines Canadian culture, he said.

“Canadians are people who are quite tenacious and quite competitive. But we are conflict-resolving people. We seek the peaceful outcome. We don’t seek confrontation. We’ve never had wars in our history. Canadians are people who conduct themselves in highly civilized fashion.”

He said his own family is appalled.

Johnston’s five daughters all played hockey, including one who played at Harvard University. His eight grandchildren love the game, too.

“The only thing that I could see coming out of the enhanced levels of violence we saw last Sunday night, for example, in the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh game, is that I think more and more people are sharing the sense of concern about what’s happening to our beautiful game.

“And I think more people are writing and commenting about it.”

Johnston is looking to other sports for solutions. Football, rugby and, to a lesser extent, basketball are all “collision” sports with their fair share of rough.

But in those sports, fighting rarely occurs.

“If it does, it is treated so seriously that it’s very rare.”

He also wants to see more people speaking out against the violence.

“It’s not the way the game was designed to play. And it does not develop the right kind of attitude to sport and life that we want our children to have.”

Johnston grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., where he played hockey as a youngster with Phil and Tony Esposito. At one point, when he was 16, he suffered three concussions in as many months — two from football and one from hockey.

His doctor forced him to wear a helmet — the only one on his team to do so.

Later, at Harvard University, he was captain of the varsity team.

There’s no doubt hockey is rough, Johnston says. But there is a difference between rough and violent.

“It’s rough in the right sense. It’s fast and there are collisions. Hockey is not a violent game. … It has no place for fighting. If you want to fight, go in a boxing ring.”

Hockey has changed a lot since his university days, Johnston says. The players are faster, bigger and stronger, and the equipment is heavier and more injury-proof.

But the hard, plastic equipment of today provokes more injuries than the leather pads of his day, Johnston says.

And for the record: he would love to see a Canadian team in the finals, but won’t say which one.

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