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33rd overall selection at last year’s entry draft suffered a severed brain cramp in the OHL final and slew footed Jackson Edward which earned him a suspension for the rest of the final, which could have meant 2 games had the series gone the distance, but the Petes won it in 6. With his team headed to the Memorial Cup tournament, people wondered if Beck would have to serve another game when his Petes take on the Thunderbirds on Saturday, but the NHL department of player safety ruled he wouldn’t have too.
While the Ontario Hockey League’s Disciplinary Committee handles internal OHL business and issued a 2-game suspension to Beck, it has no competency over the Memorial Cup tournament which is a CHL affair. Disciplinary matters and supervision of the officials in that tournament is in the NHL’s Department of Player Safety’s hands. The powers that be decided that Beck could play, it didn’t in effect reduce the suspension, it simply ruled that it was not applicable to that tournament.
This means that both Owen Beck and Jared Davidsion (Habs’ 5th round pick at the last draft) will be competing for the ultimate prize in the CHL when the tournament kicks off although they’ll have to wait until tomorrow since the hosting Blazers will battle the Quebec Remparts in the opening game.
Meanwhile, two former Habs have been in the headlines this week and not for the right reasons. I’ve spoken about Chris Nilan’s Raw Knuckles podcast before as I like his interviews with players and it’s generally a good listen, but his interview with Andrew Shaw is the exception to the rule. Shaw’s been in trouble before for using a homophobic slur during an NHL game and had said before that he had learnt his lesson, but it doesn’t seem like he did.
In an over an hour-long interview, the mutt, as his teammates used to call him, spoke about many topics including the NHL’s LGBTQ+ nights and the Kyle Beach affair which happened when he was still with the Blackhawks. In a nutshell, Shaw said that the NHL should stay away from LGBTQ+ nights and added that he wanted to be able to raise his kids the way he wants to raise them: “I have a girl right, until she’s 18, she’s mine and I can raise her the way I want to”. True, a parent can raise its children the way they want to, but the words he said in the context he said them in meant that acceptance and inclusion are not values Shaw wishes to teach his children. Call me woke or whatever you want, but I truly believe we all need to know about difference and be taught not to fear it, that starts at home and it’s the basis on which a society without discrimination can be built.
As for the Beach affair, Shaw said that he would never have put himself in the situation his former teammate put himself into. The courtroom equivalent of “she shouldn’t have dressed that way” in a rape case or the NHL equivalent of “he should have kept his head up” when a player falls victim to a predatory hit. While his comments on LGBTQ+ nights didn’t even surprise me nor did Nilan’s “you can’t say anything about anyone without offending someone these days” comment, this blaming the victim approach rattled me, and I’ll even say I’ve now lost what little respect I had left for Shaw.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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