Jack Todd: Hockey Canada’s so-called leaders need to resign

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It was not a good sign.

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One day before Parliamentary hearings into the burgeoning Hockey Canada scandal were to recommence, the organizations embattled executives put out an action plan to shatter the code of silence and eliminate toxic behavior in and around Canadas game.

It was a blatant and desperate attempt to hang on to their cushy jobs on the part of executives who have fostered that code of silence and that toxic behavior for a quarter-century or more, up to and including the alleged 2018 sexual assault in a London hotel room that would eventually tear the scab off a wound that has been festering far too long.

As the hearings soon made clear, the action plan won’t wash. Too late, wrong people. As hockey Writer Ken Campbell pointed out, Hockey Canada’s first reaction upon learning that a young woman had allegedly been assaulted by eight players was not to call the police.

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These same executives, we also learned, pay themselves bonuses each time Canadian hockey teams win a tournament even though they are almost always favored to win. This would include the Olympic gold medal Womens team, inadvertently creating bonuses for the very people who have so conspicuously failed the women of this country.

As the Principals in this scandal testified one after another, it became clear that nothing short of a very wide broom is going to begin to clean up this mess.

Obtuse, tone-deaf, awash in their own Entitlement and power, the key players for Hockey Canada left an entire Nation in need of a long shower. CEO Scott Smith and former CEO Tom Renney left the impression that they are unable to fathom the depths of this scandal and the damage already done to our national game by the very people who were supposed to protect it.

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We were left wondering whether there is a way to pry hockey from the jaws of Hockey Canada on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of young people in Canada who simply want to play the game. Yet Smith, whose capacity for self-deception is as bottomless as the scandal itself, still clings to power.

What allegedly happened in London was no accident. It has happened before. Again and again. Hockey Canada even had a fund that paid almost $9 million in what is effectively Hush money to 21 victims of a Revelation that offended the prime minister himself.

Well. The only action plan Canadians want to hear at this point is the one that begins I tender my resignation from Hockey Canada, effective immediately.

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A tale of two teams

They occupy roughly the same position, flanking the colossus that is the CH, fighting for attention from fans who love nothing so much as to spend the month of July arguing over whether the Canadiens should give up the farm for the dubious commodity known as Pierre- Luc Dubois.

They are the Montreal Alouettes and the Club de Foot Montral (awkwardly named but deft on the soccer pitch) and they are headed in opposite directions.

While the Alouettes plummet towards the bottom under Danny Maciocia following the inexcusable dismissals of head Coach Khari Jones and defensive co-ordinator Barron Miles, our MLS franchise is making steady headway under the guidance of Wilfried Nancy, the tall Frenchman who has some of the sideline presence that Felipe Alou once brought to the Expos dugout.

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Against the reigning MLS Cup Champions New York City FC Saturday, Nancy’s team had the best of the chances and likely would have won it at Saputo Stadium had Mason Toye not shanked a point-blank chance in the 55th minute.

Much as we hate nil-nil draws, this one confirmed the Montreal Clubs status as a bona fide contender and was a fitting salute to former player and Assistant Coach Jason Di Tullio, who died of cancer Friday.

The Als, meanwhile, showed little or nothing Thursday against the Tiger-Cats, despite a late comeback sparked by a Hamilton turnover. They can blame medical interference on a late concussion ruling that kept quarterback Trevor Harris from making the final play, but they were very fortunate to be in it at all.

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Owner Gary Stern, in one of his quirkily punctuated Twitter pronouncements after the Hamilton game, appeared to be doubting Maciocia’s leadership but he followed that with another statement fiercely defending Maciocia.

Meanwhile, nine years after he played his last game at quarterback, Offensive coordinator Anthony Calvillo has still not been replaced at the position he dominated. With William Stanback injured, the list of marquee Offensive players is pretty much down to receiver Eugene Lewis.

Maciocia is in far over his head, but he has succeeded in confirming one of Todd’s Rules for Team Owners: What if the GM comes to you wanting to fire the Coach and take over behind the bench himself?

Fire the GM.

Heroes: Chloe Kelly, Bill Russell, Kim Clavel, Summer McIntosh, Maggie McNeil, Kelsey Mitchell, Hannah Kaminski, Annemiek van Vleuten, Aaron Judge &&&& last but not least, Wilfried Nancy and CF Montral.

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Zeroes: Scott Smith, Tom Renney, Bob Nicholson, Hockey Canada, Danny Maciocia, Greg Norman, Bubba WatsonClaude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.

Now and forever.

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