We are unlikely to arrive at a meeting of the minds on this issue, but I do genuinely appreciate the civility several posters are bringing to the discussion. Thank you for this.
Please allow me to clarify my position. It’s a bit complex so your patience would be appreciated.
Tomorrow (February 17, 2019) is the 5th anniversary of Terry Trafford’s last Ontario Hockey League game with the Saginaw Spirit. 2 weeks later, his dead body was found inside his pickup truck in a Michigan Wal-Matt parking lot. Trafford had all of his personal belongings in that truck and $450 in cash that his father had given him.
He’d been missing for 9 days, deceased for at least 7.
In the years following this horrific tragedy — one for which nobody was fined, suspended, or punished with the forfeiture of future draft picks — the CHL partnered with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) to offer Talk Today, a multi-faceted program primarily designed to help CHL players in mental health distress.
When the program hit full stride in 2016, here is what the CMHA said in the joint press release:
“Talk Today helps address an important concern of which hockey players are not immune. The number of 12- to 19-year-olds at risk for depression is a staggering 3.2 million. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for young Canadians between the ages of 10 and 24. And 70 per cent of mental health problems are onset during childhood or adolescence.”
Here is what the CHL said in the same press release:
“The CHL, which includes the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Western Hockey League (WHL) and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) work hard to continually review, refine and improve their individual/unique player experiences, the hallmark of which is each league’s comprehensive post-secondary scholarship and education program. Our world class player experience also includes the highest calibre coaching and training facilities, extensive health and safety initiatives, anti-doping, out-of-pocket expense reimbursement, equipment, billeting and travel costs, and mentoring programs that support our players whether they continue to their hockey career at the professional level or pursue their education at a post-secondary institution of their choice.”
CHL and CMHA partner to launch mental health program – CHL
Please read both statements again.
The CMHA draws attention to the “depression epidemic” across North America and the staggering number of young people who need help.
The CHL draws attention to its post-secondary education scholarship program, which they trumpet twice in a press release about mental health initiatives.
A 16 year-old kid doesn’t need a post-secondary education scholarship program when he’s in psychological distress.
A 16 year old boy doesn’t need the highest calibre coaching and training facilities when the stress becomes overwhelming.
He needs his parents because only his parents can be trusted to put his best interests first.
Now, nearly every time a CHL team is penalized by the league for breaching player recruitment policies — none of which are ever published — the heart of the matter ends up being the player’s parents. 9 times out of 10 we learn that a team arranged to pay for the parents to see their child in whatever distant locale he is based.
If this is a violation of league policy, that policy needs to change.
Yes, I appreciate the assertion that some CHL clubs are more financially capable than others to foot the bill for flights or other forms of long distance transportation so that the players can see their parents a few times each season. But in my view, the so-called “playing field” is most responsibly “levelled” by adjusting the policies upward instead of insisting on a policy-driven low standard. This is simply the right thing to do when one oversees minors.
One last word: many years ago, back when 16 year olds could still legally drive without restrictions across Canada, I knew a CHL player with a very young sister born with spinal bifida. This young man, along with his entire family, devoted themselves to providing her with the love and care she deserved.
The young man’s mother was very clear with the team that selected her son in the annual priority selection: unless you provide him with the limited use of an automobile so that he can come home to see his sister once every 2 weeks, he won’t report. Family means more than junior hockey, she told the club.
The team agreed and the player was an important part of the club for several seasons. But this “side agreement” surely violated league policy and there’s no doubt in my mind that the punishment would have been very harsh if the league knew.
But why shouldn’t the league have known, and why shouldn’t the league have supported this “perk,” given the circumstances?
To my mind, the CHL and its 3 leagues are free to punish teams that hand over suitcases stuffed with cash or Mustang convertibles. But punishing teams for using their financial wherewithal to help preserve the mental health of players by periodically reuniting them with their parents and immediate family is ethically wrong.
