Bruce Dowbiggin
Misconduct: NHL Succumbs To Non-Binary Power Play
Imagine the Academy Awards coming out in favour of returning The Dreamers to their home country. Or the Tonys advocating a repeal of gay marriage. That’s the equivalent of the NHL’s Twitter site tweeting “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identity is real.”
For a league that celebrated its inner Don Cherry for over a century this sudden assertion that traditional biological gender is deader than Eddie Shore has to qualify as a game changer.
The tweet came as the league announced its support for something called the Team Trans Draft Tournament in Middleton, Wisconsin. The tournament’s 80 participants identified as either transgender or nonbinary, according to the NHL. Whatever. Do your thing.
But when social media asked whether this meant the league was okay with men playing in women’s leagues some progressive puckster in the NHL head office fired off the tempestuous “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identity is real.”
Cue the incredulous reaction. Who were they trying to impress? Just one example from conservative Ben Shapiro: “If this is true, why aren’t there any trans men in the NHL? They’re real men, after all. Must be terrible and vicious discrimination.” Claiming racism and sexism and transphobia the NHL briskly shut down its comments section on social media lest the suddenly disinherited Tim Hortons hockey culture submit its disgust.
There were upsides. Watching cardigan-clad commissioner Gary Bettman squirm in his new role as commissioner of all genders is worth the price of admission. Seeing the enlightened hockey media at Sportsnet, CBC, TSN and ESPN lay down cover for Comrade Gary was likewise amusing.
But the NHL’s sudden conversion to trans orthodoxy is also highly instructive of how deep the tentacles of this ideology have attached themselves in ordinary culture. The NHL? Men-as-women playing against biological women? Until this radical chic agitprop thrust itself into the fore the last few years this was unthinkable for the NHL or its fans. Laughable. Fantastical.
But now you have a league HQ embedded in the heart of Manhattan— where the global media, business and arts community have already succumbed to the intimidation of this cultural blackmail. The NHL’s sponsors, suppliers, broadcast partners and just plain neighbours have also taken the Trans Kool Aid. At some point the NHL’s surrender must have seemed inevitable— even for a league that asks its employees to never back down to bullies.
Seeing Bettman— who has epitomized stubborn resistance in his denial of the science of CTE brain trauma— crumble before the forces of approved speech is instructive to those who think this leaky scow can still be turned around quickly. Or that the forces of objective media might raise a whimper about being steamrolled by the rabid internet wolf packs.
As Douglas Murray noted sadly in Toronto of the Canadian media’s performance during the February Convoy. “The Canadian media acted as the amen chorus of the Canadian government,” he said during last week’s Munk Debate on trust in media. After numerous examples of this capitulation, he added: “Why is this so rancid? Because in this country… your mainstream media is funded by the government.”
His debate partner American journalist Matt Taibbi was no less scathing. “The press, culturally, has been transformed from an institution that reflexively identified with the broad audience to one whose first instinct is to protect the people they’re meant to cover.”
As if to prove their point, new Twitter owner Elon Musk allowed Taibbi to release emails and documents that show the active Twitter suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal in the weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election. Prodded to censor by presidential candidate Joe Biden’s followers, Twitter and its sister monopolies at Facebook and the corporate American media banned any public discussion of how Biden’s son and his brother had sold the “Big Guy’s” position in government to China, Ukraine and other malign actors for years.
Why is this important? As many as 30 percent of those hearing about the Biden’s shakedown operation for the first time said they’d have changed their vote in the razor-thin election. The implications are odious and far-reaching.
So what did corporate media do Friday upon release of the communications showing corrupt collusion between media and politicians? It reprised its October 2020 performance and buried the story of its disgrace. A few of the most corrupt tried ad hominems on Taibbi and Musk. But otherwise it was a re-run of the mute media in which a smug corporate vigilantes suppressed vital news. That includes Canadian media.
Example: the Carleton Journalism School hosted a presentation on the Canadian media titled “Journalists and Online Hate”. The idea being that brave impartial journalists are now being hunted down for their trailblazing education of the masses. The monochrome panel included federal minister Marco Mendicino, Global TV’s Rachel Gilmore, CBC President Catherine Tait, and black columnist Erica Ifill, .
(Or as Jon Kay saw it: “(1) laughingstock cab minister (2) self-loathing J-school dean (3) tiktokker (4) leader of bloated state network no one watches, & (5) woman who says she’s glad the queen’s dead’.)
After cravenly thanking native groups for the use of their hereditary land, J- School director Allan Thompson— a “fifth generation settler” told the audience that media must dismantle “white supremacist mindsets”. It went downhill from there with federal civil servant Tait lashing out at the people who pay her $460 K salary as being in need of reconstruction.
Given her chance, Ifill said when she seeks an expert opinion, she does not talk to white men because her job is to challenge power. She then talked about CBC’s Queen coverage, and noted she was glad the queen died. She also says the media treats black women very poorly. (Someone should tell this Virtue Trooper that the Queen’s ancestors were the ones who effectively ended the slave trade in. the Western World in the early 19th century. But that might upset her narrative. And upsetting narratives is racist.)
The conclusion of the debate? Sticks and stones may hurt journalists’ bones but names are first-degree murder. So save a prayer for poor Mr. Bettman. He held out longer than some before accepting the white guilt hemlock. Having known his desire to be the longest-serving commissioner in history he’s probably now wishing he’d quit his job three seasons ago. Because he’ll never wash away the cisgender privilege now.
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Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Bruce Dowbiggin
Snuffed-Out Flames: From Beatdown To Teardown in 18 Months
“Sic transit gloria” There have been rude collapses in the NHL’s recent past, but few have happened with such alacrity as the Calgary Flames’ descent into hell. Two years ago this April, the Flames were favourites to beat their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, in the second round of the 2022 playoffs. The Flames had beaten the Dallas Stars with a Game 7 OT snipe from Johnny Gaudreau. Meanwhile, the Oilers had been life-and-death to subdue the L.A. Kings in their own seven-game ordeal.
For two franchises looking to make a statement, this first playoff meeting of the Alberta rivals since 1991 was perfect timing. Led by the incomparable Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers had been knocking on the door to a long playoff run for a few years. The high-scoring Flames, meanwhile, had shocked the NHL by taking the Pacific after just one playoff series win since 2004. All three players on their top line— Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuck, Elias Lindholm—had scored 40 or more goals, while goalie Jacob Markstrom was a Vezina Trophy nominee.
Yes, there were clouds on the Flames’ horizon. Gaudreau was weeks from being an UFA. His cohort Matthew Tkachuck, was likely to be asking for a boatload of money in contract talks. Numerous key veterans would also be up for pay raises within the next two years. But a win over their Edmonton rivals could dampen that downer.
Edmonton had no such contractual distractions, having sewn up their core of McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse. It showed. The series was over quicker than anyone expected. Even Game 1’s 9-6 decision for the favoured Flames saw them blow a 5-1 lead before salvaging the game. They also led Gm. 2 by 2-0 before Edmonton mounted another (successful) comeback. In fact, Calgary’s defence would not hold leads in the remaining four games of Edmonton’s 4-1 series triumph.
As the series dragged on, Calgary’s top line seemingly could not match the speed of McDavid and the Oilers’ deadly attack. Outside his series-opening hat trick, Tkachuk had just a single assist and a -4 rating in the series. Gaudreau had just two points in the final four games while Lindholm was held to a single goal and one assist in Games 2-5. (McDavid, by contrast, ended up with three goals and nine assists against suddenly porous Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom).
For those looking for the moment this Flames’ iteration fell apart, the blown leads in Games 1 & 2 is a good place to start. Coach Darryl Sutter did not gild the lily for his underperforming stars. “It’s not being critical, that’s just true. They’re going to tell you that, too. Missed opportunities go the other way.” For much of the next 18 months, the team would go into free-fall.
In the weeks after elimination, Gaudreau walked away from a max contract offer to sign in… Columbus? That led to Tkachuk forcing the ill-fated Jonathan Huberdeau trade from Florida after refusing to renegotiate a new deal in Calgary. Having signed an eight-year contract Huberdeau then collapsed to just 15 goals and 55 points. His staggering 60-point drop-off represented one of the worst in NHL history among non-injured players between two seasons. At one point Sutter even put enforcer Milan Lucic on Huberdeau’s line.
A dazed Huberdeau fumed. He had company as seemingly the entire team feuded with Sutter. As the Flames dropped to fifth in the Pacific (and out of the postseason) the noises began about which veterans wanted out if Sutter was retained. Sutter was finally dumped, but the damage had been done for new GM Craig Conroy in his first GM job. Unless his team started fast in 2023-24 he’d be conducting a rummage sale.
The Flames did not improve off their dreadful collapse in 2023-24. (Not helped by news that forward Dylan Dubé was arrested in the Team Canada 2018 sexual-assault scandal.) Yes, some youngsters like Conor Zary, denied a shot by Sutter, have shown well. But 14-16-5 in late December wasn’t enough. Having shipped Tyler Toffoli to New Jersey earlier (stealing Ygor Sherangovich) Conroy had to find suitable deals for his departing veterans when everyone in hockey knew he had no leverage. In short order, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanafin were peddled for Andrei Kuzmenko, prospects Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, Artem Grushnikov, and Daniel Miromanov. The deals also bagged two more first-rounders, another second, four thirds, a fourth and a fifth pick— all spread over the 2024/25/26 drafts.
In a surprise move, Conroy hung onto ace goalie Markstrom to go with remaining veteran forwards Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman and defensemen McKenzie Weager and Rasmus Andersson. Maybe Conroy deals him at the Draft? Depending on your outlook, the team is now gamely trying to a) sneak into a playoff spot or b) hurt its draft position by playing spirited, if undermanned, hockey.
There is much potential in the draft haul Conroy has engineered (he has two first rounders and two second rounders this June), less so in the actual bodies he obtained. A safe estimate might be that the Flames will not return to the postseason till their long-delayed arena is finally completed by 2027-28. Maybe a phenom will appear— a la Gaudreau—to speed things up.
But it’s a reach to say that Flames fan watching puck drop of the Edmonton series in April of 2022 could have foreseen this teardown happening so fast and so brutally to a team that sped out to a 5-1 lead over the Oilers that night. But it did. The only thing making it worse will be an Oilers Stanley Cup win in 2024.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
Bruce Dowbiggin
Pronoun Panic: Could J.K. Rowling Be Arrested for Misgendering?
Collateral Damage: any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an incidental result of an activity.
There are few better examples of collateral damage than J.K. Rowling, the feminist creator of the immensely successful Harry Potter books and movies. Normally that would be enough notoriety for one lifetime. But Rowling, a committed Labourite, has endured a second notoriety, that as critic of trans people gaining admission into the lives of women.
Let’s just say this iteration has not been as pleasant for her as her Harry Potter success. The forces of the gender jumble have crucified her for saying things such as: “Telling women and girls they must accept increased risk to themselves to appease male feelings is the very definition of the patriarchy you claim to stand against. Vulnerable women are paying the price for a fashionable fallacy that has serious, real world consequences.”
While most critics of men on women’s swim teams or in women’s washrooms have been bludgeoned into silence, Rowling is not easily dissuaded. “I work really hard at it, but I’m lucky enough to have evil genes, and of course I’d be nowhere without the mentorship of Beelzebub himself. Good luck with your journey, I’m sure you’ll get there!”
While empathizing with trans people (last U.S. Census had them as 0.01 percent of the population) in their search for happiness in their dysphoria, Rowling draws the line at trans people appropriating women’s rights. She is even more appalled by the surrender of fashionable feminists— women aligned with Hollywood, government and academia who think they’re members of the resistance— who mouth platitudes about “equal pay for work of equal value” then head for the door the second the going gets tough on MSNBC or the BBC.
Or by progressive men who see women only as political pawns. Witness rage monkey Keith Olbermann’s dismissal of the three women on SCOTUS who declined to do his political bidding on the Colorado ballot question for Trump. “The Supreme Court has betrayed democracy. Its (women) members Jackson, Sagan and Sotomayor have proven themselves inept at reading comprehension.”
The answer to “What is a woman?” was self-evident a decade ago. Until the Alynskyists in the political process discovered transgender people in their march to control the Western world. Suddenly the right for biological men to barge into the female world was equated with Rosa Parks sitting where ever she wished on a bus. Appallingly, left-wing media bought the narrative of tampons in men’s washrooms.
Which brought Rowling’s unremitting opposition to reducing the value of being a woman into their cross-hairs. Despite an unbridled mania to destroy her, Rowling continues to punch back. She called trans celebrity India Willoughby “a man revelling in his misogynistic performance of what he thinks ‘woman’ means: narcissistic, shallow and exhibitionist”. (Rowling was then lamely criticized for “misgendering” the flamboyant provocateur.)
Some say that this is all simply an intramural skirmish in academia. A tempest in snow globe. But as the United States and then Canada head into elections promising destruction for Woke administrations, the definition of a woman that eludes so many radical political figures is foremost in the minds of voters. As Rowling states, women are united by their gender, but are not a monolith to be banked by a political party.
A recent graph in the Washington Examiner showed American political preferences among married and unmarried women and men. The results are edifying. While pundits define the left/ right schism as racial or economic, the defining gap in these elections is gender-specific. At one end married women support the Republicans by 56-42 percent. At the opposite end, unmarried women support the Democrats by a whopping 68-31 percent.
It’s clear that backstopping of single women by the state is a powerful weapon. Ergo, the DEMs promote demands for unlimited abortion, birth control, DEI, cradle-to-grave healthcare and hate-speech laws. Married women, while interested in these issues, are skewing to the GOP on economic grounds. (Although the Roe v. Wade overturn in SCOTUS has proven a poisoned electoral chalice for some conservatives).
That’s not all. “Pew Research found that liberal women are about 10 times more likely to have been diagnosed with a mental health condition by age 30 than conservative and moderate men have been by age 65, and about 2.5 times more likely than conservative women in their same age cohort.”
Here in Canada, comparable statistics from married/ unmarried women are equally polarized. If anything Canadian unmarried women are more radical in their outlook as they cling to Trudeau’s big-government globalist agenda against the spectre of a “Trump-like Pierre Poilievre” drummed up by media. While polls suggest a massive repudiation of Trudeau’s unholy alliance with the NDP, the purchased media continue to promote stories such as CTV’s report on “queer and trans Black Canadians calling for a national group dedicated to supporting them amid hate and targeting” that ran second on their national newscast lineup on March 3.
While there are indications that corporate Canada is pulling back from the DEI insanity, politicians have doubled down in their devotion to radical concepts such as trans rights. No wonder the late Brian Mulroney described Ottawa in Peter C. Newman’s book “The Secret Mulroney Tapes: as a “sick” city that runs on incest: “They’re all married to one another. They’re shacked up with one another. Their wives are on the payroll of the CBC. It’s just awful.”
Which is how liberals end up with collateral damage by attacking their own. Like proud socialist J.K. Rowling.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
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