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2018 Olympic Hockey Players Deserve More Respect... from Every Corner |
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Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulstewart22
From time to time, I am a guest on Dan Rea's Nightside show on WBZ Radio. It's always fun to be on Dan's show, because it gives me the opportunity to weigh in with my views on a variety of non-hockey topics as well as the game that I've made my life.
On my most recent appearance, on Jan. 3, Dan and I discussed the topic of nations sending athletes to the upcoming Olympics in South Korea, especially in light of the political climate and all that has gone on with the International Olympic Committee banning Russia from competing due to widespread blood-doping and the Russian government saying it would not stand in the way of its athletes who want to independently compete.
I am not naive. I know that international athletics, especially the Olympics, has long been deeply influenced by politics as well as the almighty dollar. However, I also strongly believe that governments should not play political games where the Olympics are concerned. The Olympics are supposed to represent healthy competition and the specter of politics only pollutes it.
With the NHL not sending its players to South Korea -- a shame for the many players who would want to go, but something that was driven by NHL team owners as a business decision and backed by Gary Bettman for the same reason -- I am happy for the players who will get a chance that otherwise would not have come their way. Frankly, I am disgusted by the people who denigrate these athletes, because they are still among the best in the world to do it professionally.
In terms of how their abilities rate among those within their chosen profession, let's just say that the hockey players chosen for the Olympics still would rank a hell of lot higher worldwide in their line of work than most of the people who've made fun of them would in their own. I've found in life that those who choose to run others down generally do so out of a lack of self-esteem.
That's why the social media-driven trend that drives the obnoxious phrase "so-and-so isn't good at hockey" rubs me the wrong way. The targets are actually among the best in the world but just not a star at the game's highest level. It only shows the critics' ignorance.
As someone who was a marginal NHL player but found a niche to at least play briefly and even score a couple goals, I know from personal experience just how much work it takes to play in the minor leagues let alone skate a shift in the NHL. Hell, the guys who played in the AHL and never got a sniff at the NHL were also really, really damn good hockey players. In the 37 years since the time I made the switch from playing to officiating, the caliber of athletes in the game has gotten better and better. They deserve your respect.
As far as blood doping and those sorts of things go, I was dismayed a couple years ago when the IIHF banned the Russian team from competing in the Under-18 World Championships (they were replaced by the Under-17 squad) because of widespread blood doping that initiated from the team management putting the kids on a banned regimen. I am sure these 17-year-old kids had no idea what was going on and simply did what they were told because athletes are taught that their coaches and trainers know best. The kids were the ones who paid the price.
For the most part, at least my experience, hockey has not been broadly infiltrated by all the PED and blood-doping issues that permeate other sports. I can attest firsthand that, during the period when I worked for the KHL, league president Alexander Medvedev very strongly believed that hockey should be vigilant in keeping the game away from such polluting factors. Whether that vigilance has slipped in the few years since he was replaced in his role, I cannot say, but it appears that others haven't taken it as seriously.
At any rate, my heart always goes out to the athletes who only want to compete and who fall in between the pavement cracks at the juncture of politics and sports. Talks of boycotts and en masse bans never sit well with me, regardless of the flags the athletes represent. My thoughts are always with the athletes themselves, because hockey and other sports are a universal language when we open our minds and just allow it to be what it ought to be.
As far as the NHL not participating in the 2018 Olympics as a business decision, I get it even if I wish it was otherwise. The league is a business and is taking a course of action that it feels is best for business. I don't think the non-participating is a politically driven decision whatsoever.
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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