The incident that former Owen Sound Attack forward Wayne Simmonds had to endure last Thursday night at London, Ontario was deplorable & truly regrettable on so many levels.
Prior to making a shootout attempt in an NHL exhibition game against Detroit, Simmonds, who is now with the Philadelphia Flyers, had a banana thrown in front of his path before his shot.
First of all, most of all, I felt so bad for Wayne, who is a decent young man, polite & respectful, highly athletic and a tremendous example of how far you can go in life, regardless of where you started from.
The obstacles Wayne Simmonds has cleared in life were daunting enough without adding racism to the mix.
I feel somewhat bad for London, and for hockey, as the act of one pinhead sullied the reputation of the city and the sport.
Almost immediately, the denials rolled out, ” it’s not a London issue “, ” it’s not a ‘ hockey ‘ fan “, those were the defensive claims.
I beg to differ.
The incident happened in London and the reports thereafter spoke only of the act, not of the reaction and whether security fingered the person responsible.
As for hockey and hockey fans, this is certainly far from the first incident, and sadly not the first involving a player with connections to our region.
Former Plater netminder Kevin Weekes, while playing for Carolina, was making his way off the ice in Montreal years ago when a banana was thrown in front of him.
In Erie, I remember Joel Ward stopping dead in his tracks on his way of the ice, stunned by what was being shouted at him.
I shudder to think what the actual number of racial incidents are in hockey, but Thursday’s episode regrettably was the latest.
Will it be the last ?
I’m Fred Wallace