What is it with hockey and violent, perverted hazing practices? Originally this story was going to explore the QMJHL’s (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) proposal to incorporate a new locker room code to prevent hazing practices. In doing the research for this, I found Harvard University’s women’s hockey team was accused of violent sexual hazing practices that have been a staple of the team culture since 2005. I then remembered  a similar investigation that took place in 2021 against the Chicago Blackhawks. This really got me thinking about why sports have such awful traditions ingrained in their culture. 

In my experience, there has always been pressure in sports to engage in somewhat questionable activities. The ones that I had been subject to were along the lines of doing drugs or alcohol. No one was forced to participate, but there was a feeling of being left out should you choose not to engage in the activities. 

A common presumption about violent hazing practices is that they only exist in male sports. While this may be what has been dominantly covered in the media, it is clearly a pressing issue in women’s sports. This brings me to the recent hazing allegations against Harvard’s women’s hockey team. Allegations were first made in January but on March 10, 2023, news broke about the investigation. A major concern that arose from the allegations was that Harvard’s Women’s Hockey coach, Katey Stone, knew about the hazing practices. On numerous occasions, she has been quoted saying “there is nothing that goes on at this organization that I don’t know about.” Perhaps unsurprisingly Stone has been accused of abusive behaviour against her players. Especially players who come from marginalized communities. 

This is not the first major organization facing such a scandal. In 2021 Kyle Beach, a former prospect of the Chicago Blackhawks was forced into performing sexual acts on video coach Brad Aldrich. Beach said that he was on the cusp of making his debut in the NHL at the time of the instance, and Aldrich knew and used the information to his advantage. Aldrich also threatened Beach to stay silent by saying “if you don’t lay down and act like you enjoy it, I’ll make sure you never play in the NHL or walk again.” Unfortunately for Beach, because he spoke out about his experience with Aldrich, after it happened in 2010, he has never played a game in the NHL. The investigation did not take place until 2021 when it was revealed that nearly the entire Blackhawks management team knew about the sexual assault and still allowed Aldrich to remain on staff until the end of the season in which the team won the Stanley Cup. After the season ended, Aldrich was let go with severance and a Stanley Cup ring. Players on both the Blackhawks and their Stanley Cup Final opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers, heard about what Aldrich had done as revealed in tweets by former Flyers forward, Daniel Carcilo. In his tweets, he explained the unlikelihood of the Blackhawks’ management and the NHL front office not knowing about the situation. Despite this, many of the executives maintain that they had no idea about Aldrich.

A major problem that players face when confronted with violent hazing is the culture of silence that exists in hockey. Those who speak out about their horrific experiences often never make it to the big leagues. As a result of this, many players suffer these abuses in silence so they do not end up sacrificing all the hard work they have done to get to where they are. This must change. It is completely unacceptable that the victims of sexual assault get punished for exposing the actions of their aggressors. Meanwhile, the aggressor can continue with their career with almost no punishment. Perhaps they are faced with a fine, and in rare circumstances, they face a criminal trial and may be convicted. 

It seems hockey leagues and organizations believe that disciplining the management team and perpetrators of these hazing practices and then moving on is the best solution. There is virtually no effort to implement strategies to eliminate the practice altogether. In past conversations with former teammates or hockey players, I often hear the line “it’s just part of the game” but that should not be the case. Violent and sexual hazing practices have no place in any organization, and it should not be an accepted aspect of playing hockey at a professional level. 

One effort is taking place in the QMJHL in an  attempt to prevent hazing practices in their league through a “locker-room code.” The reason for implementing this is an Ontario court investigation that revealed players in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), which is made up of the QMJHL, Western Hockey League(WHL), and Ontario Hockey League (OHL), have been subject to violent hazing practices dating back to 1975. QMJHL Commissioner, Gilles Couteau, stated that none of the incidents in the report involved the Quebec league. He does not think this means the issue should be ignored though and as a result, he wants to work on eliminating the culture of silence that is present in hockey leagues. 

The head of the CHL made statements which tried to emphasize that the events in the report were from twenty years ago and that many changes have taken place to eliminate this behaviour. This implies that the hazing culture is no longer present in these leagues. That is simply not true, as there have been recent allegations coming up against CHL teams. 

Considering the frequency of allegations cropping up against hockey teams, it seems the culture of silence is beginning to disappear. There is still much more work to do, but these leagues must stop punishing players who speak out against these violent experiences.