Chicago Writer Co-Authors Book On Hockey's 'Toxic Undercurrent'

CHICAGO — In "Game Misconduct: Hockey's Toxic Culture and How To Fix It," reporters Evan Moore and Jashvina Shah reveal hockey's toxic undercurrent which has permeated the sport throughout the junior, college, and professional levels.

With a sensitive yet incisive approach, this necessary book lays bare the issues of racism, homophobia, xenophobia, bullying, sexism, and violence on and off the ice. Readers will learn about notable players and activists fighting for transformation as well as those beyond the spotlight who are nonetheless deeply affected by hockey's culture of inaction.

Both a reckoning and a roadmap, Game Misconduct is an essential read for modern hockey fans, showing the truth of the sport's past and present while offering the tools to fight for a better future.

"Game Misconduct" will be available in bookstores and online on Oct. 12.

Read an excerpt:

IN A 2019 CHICAGO PROTEST, police union members and white supremacists gathered at the Daley Center to criticize Cook County State’s Attorney (Illinois) Kim Foxx—the first Black woman to hold the post—over her handling of actor Jussie Smollett’s alleged hate crime. Chicago FOP lodge president John Catanzara was photographed by the Chicago Tribune shaking hands with Brien James, co-founder of the Vinlanders Social Club, a known white supremacist group the Anti-Defamation League describes as “a hardcore racist skinhead gang that has had a high association with violence.” The group’s members are connected to at least nine murders, according to the ADL. As of July 2020, James is affiliated with the American Guard and the Proud Boys of Indiana.

A few days after the U.S. election, New York Rangers defenseman and Trump supporter Tony DeAngelo continued his quest to let his political beliefs get in the way of reality. The OHL had handed DeAngelo an eight-game suspension in 2014 for violating the league’s harassment, abuse, and diversity policy when he directed slurs toward a teammate, along with an NHL-mandated three-game suspension without pay after attempting to push away a referee following an on-ice scrum.

DeAngelo tweeted: My home state of PA is trying to RIG it. They don’t want our president to declare victory tonight. Well Michigan /Arizona/ Wisconsin let’s make it happen for him anyway!

And amid Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol, DeAngelo announced he left Twitter, which had decided to ban Trump’s account for life for inciting violence. DeAngelo said he planned to take his talents to Parler, a conservative-friendly app widely criticized as the place where January’s insurrection was planned. (Apple, Google, and Amazon have since pulled support for the app from their platforms.)

Political beliefs—for some—aren’t an issue, but what should the NHL do when a player utilizes their platform to full-throatedly endorse a philosophy—supported by white supremacists—that includes making up arbitrary rules about contesting the results of an election in a country where most of the league’s franchises operate; calling for the lynching of Vice President Mike Pence; Black journalists and Black police officers being called “n------s” repeatedly; theft and destruction of the Capitol building; multiple arrests; and being responsible for the murder of a Capitol police officer?

Don’t forget how legendary defenseman Bobby Orr took out a full-page ad in the (New Hampshire) Union Leader to support President Trump’s reelection, writing, in part, “That’s the type of teammate I want.”

Trump's support in athletics isn’t exclusive to the NHL—but it’s widespread, and it won’t go away just because No. 45 has left office. In the last days of the 2020 election, Evan was listening to local Chicago sports talk radio when he heard a political ad in which former Blackhawks and Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios endorsed Pat O’Brien, the Republican candidate for Cook County State’s Attorney, over the incumbent Foxx. When announcing the endorsement, O’Brien tweeted:
I am proud to have the endorsement of Chris Chelios, three time Stanley Cup Champion, Blackhawk great & NHL Hall of Fame. Chris grew up in Chicago, lives in Cook County & sees the destruction that Kim Foxx policies have had.

Chris Chelios standing up for his beliefs and to help the residents of Chicago and Cook County against the Kim Foxx program to put criminals before good people and law-abiding citizens. Are you willing to help?

During the ad, Chelios, a Hall of Fame blueliner, utilized the usual “tough on crime” platitudes, saying, “Our city has many wonderful things to offer, but sadly it has also become known for rampant crime and violence. This election, it’s time to make a change. We need a Cook County State’s Attorney who will restore safety to our neighborhoods. We have that in Judge Pat O’Brien…. So everyone in Chicago and all of Cook County, let’s restore security to our families, friends, neighborhoods, and businesses. Enough is enough. Vote for Pat O’Brien, State’s Attorney.”

But here’s where conservative criminal justice talking points and someone’s checkered past are in direct competition with each other, allowing them to catch unintended strays. In 1983, Chelios, a second-round draft pick of the Canadiens, was arrested in connection with a woman’s purse being stolen while he was training with Team USA, according to the Associated Press.

Years later, as a member of the Blackhawks, Chelios said this during the 1994 lockout about NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: “If I was Gary Bettman, I’d worry about my family, about my well being right now. Some crazed fan or even a player—who knows?— might take it into his own hands and figure if they can get him out of the way, this might be settled. You hate to see something like that happen, but he took the job.”

And here’s the Chicago Tribune’s analysis of the blueliner’s words: “If the hockey player’s words had been uttered about the president of this nation rather than about the commissioner of the NHL, Chelios would face felony charges.”

Here was Chelios’ non-apology apology: “I was emotional and flew off the handle. I’d just come off the ice after practice. I’d had a bad week, and you keep hearing all week, this guy saying we’re not going to play, we’re not going to play. I just got mad. In 11 years, I don’t think I ever said anything like that.”

How about when members of Team USA—captained by Chelios (while he was the Blackhawks’ captain) during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games—caused property damage in the Olympic Village in the aftermath of a disappointing showing?
Or when, in 2010, he was charged with a DUI in a Chicago suburb?

Wild stuff, eh?