GDT: 2024 NHL Draft (Time and place TBA)

[usiel]

USA (Eiserman, Connelly) vs. Finland (Helenius, Kiviharju, Hemming) coming up on NHLN.

Forgot to set the record so getting in with 5 minutes left in the first. No score yet. Go Teddy Stiga.

 

[usiel]

And my boy scores.

 

[Langway]

Hat trick for Stiga. Casual six point game (3+3) for Hagens. He's pretty, pretty, pretty legit.

 

[kicksavedave]

It's not like Connelly just made one or two mistakes. He has been asshole that has bounced around his entire young career because of it.

It's not just an apology or two that's needed from him. He needs to change who he is as an human being. He can redeem himself sure. Has he done that? I don't know.

Too big of a risk for me. He has changed his teams more often than his shoes. There is a good chance he'll be available again in the future even if you don't draft him.

The question is asked "has he done that" in terms of redeeming himself? Hard to answer definitively, but he's certainly trying and doing all the right things.

From various sources:

In an exclusive interview with The Rink Live, Connelly discussed an offensive photo he posted as a 16-year-old, an alleged racial remark in California, and the process he has outlined for himself in order to better himself and do his part to make hockey a more inclusive place.


“I think it’s important I talk about what happened because it was an awful mistake and I still feel terrible about it,” Connelly said.

That ‘it’ came in March of 2022 while Connelly and a teammate were in their local library. Connelly’s teammate created a swastika with children’s building blocks and Connelly took a photo, posting it to his Snapchat story and tagging him in the post.

“When I posted it, I didn’t appreciate how offensive and hurtful the post would be,” he said. “But after posting it and talking about the symbol, I removed the picture.

“I’m very sorry for my ignorant mistake and since then I’ve been doing a lot to try to make up for it.”

Since the photo got out, Connelly has worked at redemption through volunteer work and diversity training courses. He and his father even coached an under-14 team at the Amerigol LATAM Cup, an international tournament in Florida that seeks to break down barriers by featuring squads from "non-traditional" hockey locales such as Egypt, Brazil and the Caribbean.

Connelly coached the multicultural HPOC team, organized by the U.S.-based group Hockey Players of Color.

"It was so fun," Connelly said. "It was so cool to see all these different countries there playing hockey. I had such a blast being able to coach kids and give them my knowledge."

While it’d be easy to say he was just an ignorant 16-year-old kid, Connelly has owned up to it and used it as a way to better himself.

“I wanted to learn from it and educate myself,” he said. “I visited the LA Holocaust Museum and I also read the book, 'Night' (by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel). That gave me a much better understanding of why the post and the swastika symbol are so hurtful, and that antisemitism is still a big problem today.

“Knowing what I know now, I would never post something like that and I regret doing it.”
"I can tell you from every single facet of our organization — billet families, fan interaction, community service, players, staff, ownership — everything. The overwhelming sentiment of Trevor has been positive. Every single community outreach event that our organization was involved in, Trevor was there. He wasn't told that he had to be, but he made it a point to do it. He did every single thing we asked of him and more."

He’s also now involved with Hockey Players of Color, a group that’s geared towards making hockey more inclusive and a better place — something Connelly said he wants to do.

"Oftentimes you have people who don't understand other people's culture and they don't realize how certain things impact them or how having that extra insight and perspective on the world itself can benefit them," said Jazmine Miley, the founder of Hockey Players of Color.https://www.hpocmovement.com/mentors

Ever since Trevor came to us he's been committed to learning and helping, and I think he's really embraced that while working with the kids he has. He knows their lives might be different, but hockey can bring them together."

Connelly has committed to serving as a mentor for the group and he's already done several Zoom meetings with HPOC athletes.

He’ll head to Florida in two weeks with his father too, where he’ll help coach a U14 team at The Miracle LATAM Cup, which HPOC will be represented at.

Since then, the California native has taken various steps to educate himself and rebuild his reputation.

Connelly visited the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum, read numerous books about the Holocaust and continues to volunteer in nearby communities, as well as with initiatives geared towards making hockey more inclusive.

Everyone will have their own opinions about redemption, but I find it hard to think that a 16 year old kid who takes and posts an offensive picture cannot be forgiven and redeem himself. Its not like he was attending rally's and chanting offensive messages as part of a deep rooted belief system. He genuinely didn't seem to understand the impact, and while we can say he should have, I shudder to think about my own morality and world history knowledge when I was 16.

 

[Ridley Simon]

The older one gets, the more one sees from within the prism of youth vs wisdom. And when it should slide from one to the other.

16 isn’t the start of that age, from my view. However doesn’t mean this kid isn’t a total prick (in his head) who has serious anger/angst about something. And he takes it out on others.

Or he was raised rascist.

Or he’s a psychopath.

Lots of in between.

That said, I can easily see both arguments. I’m not sure I’d boycott anything if they picked him (man he’d be under a well deserved microscope), but I’d rather they didn’t.

Personally.

 

[pman25]

What’s the deal with Stiga? I’ve not heard or seen much of him prior to this week

 

[usiel]

What’s the deal with Stiga? I’ve not heard or seen much of him prior to this week

Honestly I didn't know much about him. He's projected to get in the 2nd round for this years draft. The hands and hockey sense just really jumped out as something special. Again a lot like Perreault from last years draft.

 

[usiel]

Only got to watch the 1st period yesterday so into the 2nd Stiga's 2nd goal 8 seconds into the period with a quick snapshot from a pass by Hagens.

Less than a minute later Eiserman comes in on a 2 on 0 and could have passed to his teammate for a slam dunk goal but elects to shoot it. Meh.