Jack Todd: Blackhawks dynasty is forever tainted by mishandling of Kyle Beach case

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Sometimes it seems that hockey is a long scandal, interrupted by the odd game.

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Attacks on ice. Sexual assaults Cover ups. Financial shenanigans. Greedy players blocked by greedy owners. Player safety works to put players in danger.

It is endless. But Brad Aldrich’s abuse of Kyle Beach and Chicago’s collective refusal to deal with it has left the Blackhawks dynasty tainted forever, some of the game’s biggest names permanently fallen out of favor, even its brightest stars now. under a cloud because of his obvious inability to remember.

Put it this way: when John Tortorella is telling you how to behave and Torts is the one who is right, you have a problem.

“This was not a one-man decision,” Tortorella said on ESPN. “They are several people. I just don’t understand why a man couldn’t just stand up and say, ‘You know what? No. This is wrong. ‘

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“This is sexual assault, overshadowing the game of hockey. That’s what’s crazy to me, that man couldn’t stand up and say, ‘You know what? No way. We have to fix this right now. ‘ “

A man. That’s all it would have needed. The team’s president and eventual CEO, John McDonough (a man described as “tough and dictatorial” by the Chicago Sun Times) may have been the man more responsible for this scandal than any other individual. When told at that now infamous meeting about Aldrich’s horrible behavior toward Beach, McDonough said he would take care of it.

McDonough did not even do the bare minimum to call the police to alert them to the actions of a sexual predator.

The same goes for Stan Bowman. And Joel Quenneville, who was more guilty than anyone on this side of McDonough. And the cheeky Kevin Cheveldayoff. They not only stood by and allowed this to happen, rejected skills coach Paul Vincent when he asked them to report the allegations to the police.

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Even the leading players in the Blackhawks dynasty have been ashamed of themselves. Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews suffered a bad case of forgetfulness when asked what they remembered.

The missing link? Apologies. Apologies from McDonough, Bowman, Quenneville, Cheveldayoff and everyone else involved to Beach and the 16-year-old who was also abused by Aldrich. A fervent and sincere “I’m sorry.”

Somehow, I think we will never hear any apologies from anyone other than Gary Bettman, which is the saddest part of this whole sorry affair.

Meanwhile at the ranch … The question in Montreal is this: What did Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin know and when did he know?

There is no shortage of fans who have come to the conclusion that Bergevin was aware from the beginning and that he is also responsible for doing nothing, but there is absolutely nothing to prove the accusation, and the denial that Bergevin issued last June was a strong one:

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“There was a meeting that I heard was held in Chicago. I was not part of any meeting and I was not part of any decision based on that. He was not aware of what was happening at the time. You can put that on record. “

Unless specific information indicates otherwise, you should give Bergevin the benefit of the doubt. In any event, Pope Gary has already absolved Cheveldayoff of any blame or responsibility for the scandal, so even Yes Bergevin was aware, he is now free with the league.

It may not matter. Given the strange and ineffective play of the Canadiens this season and the fact that he has no contract, I don’t think Bergevin will return. It may not even last the season, and when he goes, Trevor Timmins should go too.

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Something is very wrong with this Canadiens team, more than just gaps in the lineup or Dominique Ducharme’s training. With Bergevin unsigned, there is a top-down leadership vacuum, exacerbated by Shea Weber’s lack of replacement as captain.

It is not the number of games the Habs have lost, but the path they are losing. Going into play at Anaheim on Sunday, they had given up five goals four times in their first nine games, to go with losses 4-1, 3-1 and 2-1. As Stu Cowan pointed out, they were 30 ^th in the ranking, 30 ^th in the power play, 30 ^th on pain of death, 30 ^th in average shots per game and 31 ^{S t} in confrontations.

Those are lottery draw numbers. With less than four months to go until the Stanley Cup final, the Canadiens are horrible.

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Geoff Molson can’t hide under his desk forever, hanging out just to talk to handpicked reporters. Sooner or later, you will have to act.

Heroes : Rick Westhead (and TSN for employing him and giving him time and freedom to do his job). Katie Strang, Paul Vincent, John Tortorella, Josh Cavallo and last but not least Kyle Beach, for showing more courage than the entire Blackhawks organization. .

Zeros : Brad Aldrich, John McDonough, Stan Bowman, Kevin Cheveldayoff, Joel Quenneville, Gary Bettman, Donald Fehr, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, the Wirtz family, and the entire Chicago Blackhawks organization. Now and always.

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