A silent chorus of hockey players, including some NHLers, is afraid to publicly speak out against fighting in the sport, an anti-violence advocate says.
In the wake of Mario Lemieux’s anger over a brawl involving his Pittsburgh Penguins, Peter Jaffe of the University of Western Ontario has co-signed a public letter urging NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to ban fights.
Jaffe says he speaks for a group of hockey players too intimidated by the sport’s culture to speak up.
“I have contact with junior hockey and NHL players and all of them are afraid to come out publicly,” Jaffe said. “They say (speaking out) will hurt their careers; they’ll be seen as chickens. There’s a code of silence. If you challenge the issue you’re going to be singled out.”
Jaffe wrote his letter to Bettman with Graham Pollett, London’s chief public health official, and Ray Hughes of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
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