P.K. Subban benching a shame as NHL conformity wins out

Cam Cole
Vancouversun.com


There are few absolutes in life, but one is that if you are involved in the quaint sport of ice hockey and have somehow attracted the attention of the Huffington Post, you are about to cross the line from non-entity to laughingstock, if not pariah.

Otherwise, why would the giant U.S. online news blog waste valuable web space on you? So it was when, in the middle of a TSN panel discussion on the trials and tribulations of Montreal Canadiens' recently-benched rookie defenceman P.K. Subban (who is black), former NHL goalie Darren Pang (who is not) suggested that the flamboyant Subban might try to emulate St. Louis's Alex Pietrangelo and do things on and off the ice “the white way.”

He quickly corrected it to “right way,” but it was too late. Within seconds, the slip of the tongue was being YouTube'd and Twittered and hooted at, and a mortified Pang — who is about a million miles from being any kind of racist — was issuing mea culpas and calling Subban to apologize, and generally turning himself inside out in embarrassment.

Beyond the furor, though, totally invisible to the amused viewers and long-distance critics of a guy they don't even know, is the really sad aspect of what Pang was saying.

The crime of which Subban was so guilty that his benching required a TSN panel to analyze it? He had resisted hockey's No. 1 law: conform or sit.

He was quotable. He was fun-loving. He was cocky. He chirped at opposing players more famous than himself. He refused to bow and kiss the hems of their robes just because he was a rookie. He drew the ire of Sidney Crosby and Mike Richards and eventually — though he was playing like a Calder Trophy candidate most nights — this outrageous non-conformity of his could no longer be tolerated by the world's dullest hockey coach, Jacques Martin.

So off to the Habs' press box went P.K. Subban, and let that be a lesson to him.

When he returns, hopefully it will be with no personality at all. Never will he speak another interesting thought, if he knows what's good for him. He will spout cliches in the style of Jason Spezza or Richards or Dion Phaneuf or, yes, Ryan Kesler — and when asked what he has learned from his benching, he will say: “It's not about me, it's about the team.”

He will remain black on the outside, but as colourless, for all that, as everyone else in a game that has pretty much hammered all individuality out of its players, and values vanilla above all other flavours.

Talkativeness is held to be a character flaw in hockey, and our juniors learn this before they've ever set foot in the pros. Our heroes have been Bobby Orr, who preferred not to speak at all, Wayne Gretzky, who was pleasant but instinctively uncontroversial, Mario Lemieux — who hid from the public until he needed help building his arena, then quickly ducked back under cover — and now Sid The Kid, whose next verbal revelation will be his first.

Players like Jeremy Roenick and Brett Hull and Chris Chelios, who had things to say and didn't hold back, were not only a dying breed, they were always viewed with suspicion by hockey's conservative establishment. Probably because we media guys loved them.

Then, too, they were all Americans, and American individuality is notoriously more difficult to trample beneath an iron boot.

A Canadian who expresses himself at length is apt to be labelled a clubhouse lawyer (Willie Mitchell's burden) or at least a selfish, non-team player (see Shane O'Brien) if not downright weird (Kyle Wellwood).

This behavioural law is occasionally waived in non-traditional hockey markets, where something more than the game itself is needed to sell tickets and players' personalities are reluctantly cultivated in aid of marketing.

But not in our country. It takes years — often well past the age of 30 — for even outstanding NHL players toiling in Canada to feel secure enough to emerge from their cocoons and venture an honest opinion or two.

That's why, if you are scoring at home, you will see that most of the interesting quotes in the paper, or on TV, are not coming from those young stars the league is (paradoxically) so keen to promote, but from secure veterans who are beyond caring whether someone, somewhere might conceivably take a remark the wrong way.

Europeans have frequently been quirky enough (Mikael Samuelsson) or goofy enough (Petr Klima's “You need a long stick to score from the bench”) or mangle the language badly enough (Esa Tikkanen's “We need to play like a team, right now we're just playing with ourselves”) to provide good material — or just too darned pleasant to say no, like Teemu Selanne — but they are forgiven because they're from faraway lands, and you know how those foreigners are.

The Guy Carbonneaus, the Craig MacTavishes, the Rob Blakes have always been rarities, and it's no accident that most of the old-school guys who have filled reporters' notebooks with cogent thoughts over the years have eventually gravitated to TV panels like the one that Darren Pang found himself on the other night.

No one ever asked Bobby Orr or Gordie Howe or Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux to sit on a panel and light the place up with lively chatter. And no one will ever ask Crosby.

Somehow, they've always known that adjectives are someone else's job. Colour is not a personal trait much admired by the Canadian hockey fan, for whom team is everything and sticking one's head above the crowd is considered rude.

That is the lesson of P.K. Subban.

Conform or sit. He'll conform.

Such a shame.

Russians snag Canadian sporting expertise for Sochi Games

Randy Starkman

thestar.com

Some of the chief architects of the Own the Podium program that helped put Canada over the top at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics have a new boss: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The Russians, in an effort to replicate at the 2014 Sochi Olympics the success Canada had in Vancouver, have hired many of the people who headed the creation of OTP, including Cathy Priestner Allinger, her husband Todd Allinger and Jacques Thibault, who like Priestner is a former Canadian speed skater.

Priestner Allinger, a silver medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics, resigned last week from OTP’s board of directors because her work with the Russians put her in a position of conflict-of interest.

While some might view it as sporting treason to leave the nation of poutine for the land of Putin, Priestner Allinger certainly doesn’t regard it that way.

“People can think that,” she said Saturday in a phone interview from Vancouver. “I always look at these types of things as opportunities. I actually believe there’s an opportunity for Canada in this. Russia has to partner with someone along the way to help them achieve their goal.”

Heads rolled at the Russian Olympic Committee after a dismal sixth-place finish in the overall medal standings in Vancouver.

Putin, a serious sportsman who is active in judo, wants a big turnaround for Sochi. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, who recruited Priestner Allinger, is the minister in charge of the Games, reporting directly to Putin.

“We were over a couple of trips ago and just out for a walk, and the Russian we were with said ‘Putin is reading your report tonight.’ I said ‘What?’” said Priestner Allinger. “It’s definitely within the highest levels of interest with the Russian government.”

Priestner Allinger said they would likely hire more Canadians to work in the Russian program, but without stealing away any personnel.

“We’re not going to poach or anything like that, we have no desire to do that,” she said. “There are individuals for sure who we have talked to in Canada and also in the U.S. who have an interest in getting involved.”

Priestner Allinger described talks in May with Zhukov about the evolution of the OTP program in Canada, which began just over five years before the Vancouver Games. The big question the Russians were pondering was: Could it be done in the four years leading up to the Sochi Olympics?

The undertook a review for the Russians, which they presented in late September and which concluded they had the capabilities to take a big step forward but would have to find a way to cut through all the bureaucracy in their system.

Priestner Allinger said she kept John Furlong, chairman of the Own the Podium board, apprised all along of her dealings with the Russians. But it reached the point where she needed to resign because of the potential conflict of interest.

“It’s going to require a lot of change on their part,” she said. “They definitely have gaps in terms of expertise. They have a lot of new leadership, so there’s a catching up for them as well. But if they switch gears a little bit — change is not something that comes super-easy to that country — but they’re going to need to make some significant change. And if they do, it’s possible.”

Priestner Allinger said the first thing the program needs to ensure is that it’s providing athletes and coaches with the basics. Russia also must put resources into the newer sports, not just the traditional ones.

“Really for Russia, they don’t have the basics, which is a shock to people when they hear that,” she said. “But they have a lot of gaps to fill in making sure the athletes and coaches have all the support and equipment that they need.

“You have to make sure you have a sled to slide on, the most current technology possible — and that’s where Canada played a lot of catching up prior to 2010. It’s funny so much of what we’ve heard going into this is exactly what we heard six years ago here in this country.”

After some skepticism in Russia about the Canadians, things have been moving along well. Only half of the Russian sports federations were expected to show up for consultations during their review, but most relented by the time they left.

“We’re setting really new ground in Russia,” said Priestner Allinger. “They’re not really sure what to do with us.”

Own the Podium’s CEO, Alex Baumann, praised Priestner Allinger on Saturday, saying “Cathy played a critical role in the foundation of Own the Podium.”

The suite life: Corporate Winnipeg ready to throw support behind potential NHL team

Paul Friesen

slam.canoe.ca


Much of the debate about whether or not Winnipeg could support an NHL franchise has been guess work.

Economic experts saying this, the man on the street saying that and people believing what they want.
For example, would a team here have enough corporate support?
Instead of guessing, we decided to find out.
The results, like a rising slapshot from the unknown rookie, caught us off guard.
A series of interviews suggests Winnipeg’s business community is waiting, chequebook in hand, for the chance to make an NHL team here viable.
The Sun contacted about one-third of the luxury suite holders at MTS Centre, and 17 of the 25 executives we reached said they would renew their suites at our predicted NHL price, which is triple the current rate.
Three more said they’d reduce their portion of their suites but stay involved, while three said they weren’t sure.
Just two of the 25 said the high price tag would force them out of the game.
“There is a high level of excitement about the return of an NHL team,” Carol Paradine, managing partner with accounting firm Deloitte, said. “We do have suites in most of our major market places and this probably wouldn’t be any different.”
Even though the yearly cost of leasing a suite is expected to soar from an average of around $60,000 to $180,000 (private suites in Edmonton start at around $150,000).
“I’ve heard people say it’s a lot of money, but they’d still do it,” David MacAngus, president of Winnipeg Building and Decorating, said. “It slipped away once before, and I don’t think corporate Winnipeg wants to see it happen again.”
Many firms, like the two noted above, already share luxury boxes with other companies, a practice that would likely increase in the pricey world of the NHL.
“I’m pretty sure we would scale back what percentage we have there today,” said Curtis Wyatt of Wyatt Dowling Insurance, which splits a suite, 50-50, with a partner.
That scale back, though, could be made up in new corporations jumping on the big-league bandwagon.
“A lot of people who don’t have a suite today would reconsider if the NHL came back,” Wyatt said.
Charlie Spiring of Wellington West Capital agrees.
“There will be a changeover,” Spiring said. “But it will be a layup.”
With Spiring going up for an early slam dunk.
“We will be the first to sign up.”
He may have some competition.
MTS, Keystone Ford, Princess Auto, Maple Leaf Construction, W.K. Chan Jewellers, Carlyle Printing, the Winnipeg Sun, Qualico Homes, Manitoba Blue Cross and Lazer-Grant, a local accounting and business advisory service, were among the companies vowing to beef up their contributions.
“Certain concerts have huge demand and it has great value for us,” Derek Johannson, chairman of Carlyle Printing, said. “My sense is the NHL would be the same. It’s certainly a leap of faith at the start. Probably we would take that leap of faith.
“Talking to our customers, there is tremendous excitement and anticipation.”
Business types generally use their suites to woo clients and reward employees. So it’s a perk, but one with potential financial rewards.
“Our guys are big hockey fans,” Blake Fitzpatrick, co-owner of Maple Leaf Construction, said. “It’s our way of entertaining our guys.”
But even Fitzpatrick acknowledges there are limits.
And two of the executives we talked to said tripling the price would force them out.
“We’d probably sell it,” said Elite Communications boss Scott Greer, who shares a suite with three others. “It’s expensive. Probably too expensive for what our benefit would be. We’re pushing it right now. We’re a relatively small company on the Winnipeg landscape.”
Greer says he’d love to see the NHL return, but just isn’t sure it would be sustainable, long-term.
One executive, choosing to remain anonymous, went one step further, saying Winnipeg is actually better off without the NHL because people can better spread their money around.
“There’s no way we could continue,” he said of his company’s suite lease. “Most of us here don’t really want the NHL. I just can’t see the building selling out on a Wednesday in the middle of January.”
But the vast majority are watching the clock with anticipation, counting down the days and months — maybe years, considering it looks like the Phoenix Coyotes are staying put — until that first NHL faceoff.
One hand holding a Jets pom-pom, the other their wallet.
“There would be sticker shock,” John Daniels of Qualico said. “And then support.”
WORDS FROM THE SUITES
“Winnipeg is a big-league city. And there’s a lot of quiet money out there that a lot of people don’t realize.”
— Bob Kozminski, Keystone Ford
“Everybody talks about head offices, but it’s not just head offices. (We have) many companies with a presence across Canada.”
— Blake Fitzpatrick, Maple Leaf Construction
“It’s certainly a leap of faith at the start. Probably we would take that leap of faith.”
— Derek Johannson, Carlyle Printing
“There’s a strong chance we’d support it the first three years and then evaluate it.”
— Anonymous executive
“It slipped away once before, and I don’t think corporate Winnipeg wants to see it happen again.”
— David MacAngus, Winnipeg Building and Decorating
“We’ll support it. However, we’d like to support it at double (the current price, not triple).”
— Joel Lazer, Lazer-Grant
“Most of us here don’t really want the NHL. The city has become better since the Jets left.”
— Anonymous executive
“The city’s got a big sticker shock coming.”
— Anonymous executive
“There will be sticker shock. And then support.”
— John Daniels, Qualico Homes

Oh, Canada

By Rick Reilly
ESPN The Magazine

It's always so cute when Canada hosts an Olympics. Canadians try so hard. This comes from living next to America and having an inferiority complex worse than Tito Jackson's.

For instance, it's rained every day I've been in Vancouver, athletes are starting to withdrawal because of pruny fingers, and Canadians feel terrible. They're always saying "Gee, sore-ee about the rain, eh?" Do you realize they've been helicoptering snow up to the mountain venues? Who does that?

These people are nice. Preposterously nice. Aunt Bee in mukluks nice. This is a country that has human-chomping grizzlies on every corner and yet chose the furry beaver for its national animal.

Here's how nice: Twice already, Canadian mogul star Jenn Heil's bus has broken down on the drive up from Vancouver to Cypress Mountain. And both buses were from California! Peter Judge of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association was quoted as saying after the second time: "It was a bit of a concern." A "bit of a concern"? If it had happened to an American star, they'd have made everybody responsible stand against a wall in front of a running 2010 Prius.

Anyway, I think Americans who come to these Winter Olympics should try to be nice back. You can't be nicer than Canadians, but you can try. Here's how:

• Do not talk about hockey. A Canadian team has not won the Stanley Cup in 17 years. This is possibly because there are no more Canadian hockey teams left. OK, that's not true. Still, if Canada doesn't win the gold in men's hockey this time -- something it's only done once since 1952 -- fans here might all throw themselves under stampeding moose.

If your birthday is August 9, always look at the ground, shake your head and add, "The day Wayne was traded."

• Use the "organics" recycling container in your hotel room. This is one of 14 recycling containers you'll find there. The mind recoils as to what you're supposed to put in the "organics" can in a hotel room, but the little sign says to put "meat, poultry, fish, plants and flowers." That's weird. I always leave my poultry in a gift bag for the maid.

• Speak Canadian. ATMs are ABMs. Street hockey is "shinny." Butt is "arse." Beer is "brew." Stuff is "whatnot." Newfoundlanders are "Newfies." Never say the "g" in "ing." And yay is not a cheer, it's a measurement, as in: "I'm lookin' for my malamute, about yay big and yay long?"

• Call Vancouver "Van City" or even "The Van" but do not call it the name it hates: "No Fun City." It IS a fun city, except that a lot of the bars close at 11. In the morning.

• And it apparently NEVER STOPS RAINING.
• Use abbreviated words whenever possible. For instance, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police becomes the "RCMP," which becomes "the Armsee," as in the sentence: "I sure hope Bode Miller doesn't get pinched by the Armsees this Olympics. I got 10 Loonies on him."

• Abbreviate your new friends' names, too. Hamilton becomes "Hams." If your friend's name is already short, add "er" to it. This is how you get a sentence like, "Let's go play some shinny, eh? You be Gretz and I'll be Nasher."

• Compliment their national anthem. It's way better than ours.
• Pretend that you have to plug in your engine block at night to keep it from freezing, too. Makes them feel better.
• Go to Tim's (short for "Tim Hortons") and have a double-double (two creams, two sugars) and some Timbits (donut holes) and stand around and talk about curling. This will be a welcome topic. The Canadians are still great at curling.
You: The boys oughta do priddy good, eh?
Him: Oh, sure. The sweeps are beauties.
You: You thinkin' they might be winnin' and whatnot, eh?
Him: Boy, would that ever be neat!
• When referring to Elvis, be sure its Stojko not Presley. If you're talking about acting, don't forget the god of all Canadian thespians -- Lorne Greene from "Bonanza." If your birthday is August 9, always look at the ground, shake your head and add, "The day Wayne was traded."

• Never say "said." Say "goes," as in: "So Lindsey goes, 'I'm freezin' way up here in just a bikini.' And I go, 'Linds, it's a bitchin' career move!' And she goes, 'K, but it's colder 'n a Newfie's arse up here!'"

• If you're a snowboarder and you snap your neck in three places doing your Double Fakie Ollie Grab and they're putting you in the ambulance, smile and go, "It's fine! Canada's got free health care!"

But if those bastards say anything about their dollar being worth more than ours, slam them in the nose with your organics can.

"Scary" Future Ahead For Canadian Sport System

Randy Starkman
February 02, 2010

Roger Jackson, who heads Own The Podium, the organization designed to help Canada win the medals race at the 2010 Winter Olympics, is holding a teleconference today to talk about the team's prospects on the eve of the Vancouver Games.

But there's an even more important question at the moment: What happens after the show is over?

There is a lot of uncertainty and doubt in the Canadian sport system as it gets ready to enjoy what should be its greatest time on the international stage. The biggest worry is future funding.

The sports federations recently got a letter from Jackson recently saying basically they can only guarantee the winter sport system $10 million a year in funding going forward. The current level of funding is $29 million. Couple that with expected decreases in sponsorship and no more money from the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) in the future and you've got a bleak picture.

“We got $2 million from OTP,” said Max Gartner, chief of athletics for Alpine Canada. “Providing we have the results they expect, if the reduction is that severe, that's a lot of money out of our budget that's not going to be there.

“You add that with maybe some sponsors that are not going to be there after the Olympics, all of a sudden the future doesn't look so bright anymore and that's really scary. We knew it was going to go downhill after this year. But our budget is $6 million and if it goes down to $4 million, that means some significant changes.”

Jackson acknowledged his concern in an interview in December.

One of the big issues is that Sports Minister Gary Lunn has yet to release the findings of the 2010 and Beyond commission. That study is to determine the future of Own The Podium. Most people in Canadian sport want Own The Podium to remain an independent entity, while incoming Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut is pushing hard for it to come under their umbrella.

“We cannot go into the Games without knowing that there's a future for all the staff,” said Jackson. “That's a very, very serious problem and one that needs to be addressed. The minister will hopefully release the report very quickly.”

The report was expected to be released months ago and everyone is still waiting.

This isn't the sports system whinging. How can any business operate without knowing their budget, without knowing who's in charge?

Canada has to decide if it's in or out of the medal winning game. The Vancouver Olympics are going to give the public a real appetite for excelling on the world stage. That doesn't come cheaply.

And while it's expected this should be a great Games for Canada in the medal standings, the real rewards are likely to come in 2014 in Sochi and beyond – if we maintain a strong sports system.

It's estimated that $1 from taxpayers goes towards sport. That's a pretty good investment to these eyes, particularly if the system can continue to do a better job of linking the playground to the podium.

And by that I don't mean creating the next generation of Olympians, but motivating kids to be active and showing them the great role models that are out there in Canadian Olympic sport (They sure beat Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton as role models). That's a big part of this picture that needs to develop, showing the Canadian public the real worth of Olympic sport.

There's so much more that can be tapped into in this regard.

Minister Lunn, like has his ilk, has shown a propensity for the photo op. Here he is bussing Clara Hughes in front of the cameras when she was named flagbearer in Vancouver the other day. Hope he asked her about how her Olympic dream was sparked and what sport has done for her.

Maybe that will motivate him to stop dithering on this issue and not leave the future of sport twisting in the wind.