EDMONTON – You played hockey when others dropped out of their games and you can give your opinion on whether that was right.
But when a tumultuous night in the world of sports came to an end, the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche gave us the essence of why we were watching the Games in the first place. In a 6-4 thriller, the Avalanche got back on their streak by scoring three goals in the final eight minutes and stealing a win that turned that streak of Western Conference Round 2 around.
“And now we have a series,” said Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog in a post-game press conference dominated by questions about the Black Lives Matter movement as the NHL played games on Wednesday night while the NBA, WNBA, the MLS and some MLB teams didn’t.
“I think there are different ways to show your actions and what you support,” argued Tyler Seguin of Dallas, who was very public at the start of this playoff. “Dicky (Jason Dickenson) and I played our first game (kneeling) so I fully support what the MLB and the NBA are doing. We just had the decision to play the game tonight. ”
Here in Edmonton, you wouldn’t have known it was a landmark day in the sports world. A pre-game report said there would be a pre-game ceremony, but their minds must have changed when they simply sang the anthems and dropped the puck. Colorado and Dallas played a game that would create a growing avalanche of criticism on social media as the night wore on.
Nazem Kadri, a founding member of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, was also considering the strike.
“It comes to mind when you see other leagues doing things like that. We applaud the NBA for their stance, ”he said.
“The characters, the hockey operations are great and everything. But at some point the words get stale. It’s about action and about making a difference. ”
As a sports league, the NHL received a lot of criticism on Wednesday for pushing its playoff schedule while other leagues put theirs aside. But it’s an odd game day question for those individual players whose routines are set, whose focus is off social media and on the game ahead.
Players on both sides said their game schedule left them in the dark on something that was happening outside of their hockey bubble, both literally and figuratively.
“To be honest,” Seguin said, “I woke up from a nap and didn’t really realize what the NBA was doing until I got to the rink. I didn’t think much about not playing tonight all day. But like I said, I support what’s going on, I support the movement, and I honestly think hockey has to do more. But I think we can all show our actions in different ways. ”
It’s a confusing time for Dickenson and Seguin, a couple of Canadians who aren’t afraid to take a stand but aren’t sure how best to do it.
“Doesn’t this game solve things?” Asked Dickenson. “No, but it draws attention to it and you know what? It happened at the last second, as Seggy said. We woke up, we were already in game mode and it was one of those things that it’s hard to get together this close to game time and just change (your) mind.
“We come from all walks of life, we have people from all over the country. It’s difficult for some people to bring this hit home, ”he continued. “I don’t want to say that someone is blind or ignorant, but we are a league with a lot of Canadians, a lot of Europeans. So it’s difficult when something doesn’t hit the mark. You watch the MLB, you watch the NBA, they are mostly American players so it is easy for them to get home. It is easy for them to stand against something.
“Seggy and I kneel down and we get the backlash that we’re not Americans. We shouldn’t speak out in favor of such a thing. But we believe that as Canadians we are close enough that we have the right to say something, and in Canada we have seen similar things. ”
The Stars erased a 3-1 deficit and took a 4-3 lead nine minutes before the end of the game. But Kadri has the winner, his seventh, and now both teams will – at least – watch Game 5.
Or will they?
