Penguins

NHL players choose to postpone games

Taylor Haase
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Rogers Place in the Edmonton bubble. -- NHL / TWITTER

The NHL has postponed the playoff games scheduled for Thursday and Friday following a wave of player protests across sports leagues following the shooting of Jacob Blake.

Blake, an unarmed Black man, was shot in the back seven times by police in Kenosha, Wis. on Sunday. Blake’s father announced on Tuesday that Blake is currently paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the shooting.

The decision to postpone the games was made by the players, the NHL said in a statement:

Teams in the playoffs released statements in support of the decision:

The NBA and WNBA postponed all games on Wednesday, the MLS postponed all evening games, and several MLB teams sat out of their games on Wednesday. A full recap of Wednesday's events can be found here. The NHL played its two scheduled games on Wednesday, but said it would hold a "moment of reflection" prior to both games, although there was ultimately no such moment prior to the Avalanche-Stars game.

Players inside the bubble reportedly reached out to the Hockey Diversity Alliance, an organization that aims to "eradicate racism and intolerance in hockey,” seeking advice on how to proceed for Thursday. A mass conference call between over 100 players and members of the Alliance took place on Thursday morning, during which the Canucks players were reportedly leading the push to postpone games. The Alliance then formally requested that the NHL postpone games.

In the discussions, the members of the Alliance also encouraged players to take steps to make actual change after Thursday's decision:

The same members of the Alliance praised the NBA and other leagues for their decision to not play on Wednesday:

Players from both conferences met with the media on Thursday night. Anders Lee, James van Riemsdyk, Zdeno Chara, and Kevin Shattenkirk spoke from the Eastern Conference. Nazem Kadri, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Reaves, Jason Dickinson, and Bo Horvat spoke from the Western Conference with a massive group of teammates standing in solidarity behind them:

Reaves said he struggled on Wednesday night, wondering if just he and a handful of other players would sit out on Thursday. He said that waking up on Thursday to many texts from white players looking to start a conversation on the matter was one of the best parts of these past few days, and that having their support makes this a much stronger statement.

"I think the message coming from a predominantly white league has a very strong impact when it's coming from players like this," Reaves said. "Most of these guys have never lived through some of the stuff that black athletes have. ... For all these athletes in here to take a stand and say, 'We see the problem to and stand behind you,' I could not be more proud of those guys."

Kadri added that "moving forward, it’s going to have to be the whole league. Collectively. Not just one or two guys" working together against social injustices.

Players spoke on the importance of using their platforms as athletes to try to enact change.

"We have this platform as professional athletes to make our community a better place," said Lee. "I think Kevin and I are happy to do that, and all the guys in the League that are coming together that has an opportunity to be better in the outside world. You try to do the right thing. We're trying to do that today in support of our teammates and in our communities."

Coaches from the Western Conference spoke after the players and reiterated the need for further action.

"Everyone knows this one act isn't going to change anything, but hopefully it shines a brighter light on systemic racism," said Vegas coach Pete DeBoer. "Not just in this country, but all over the world."

DeBoer said the "movement is player-driven, but team-supported" and that the coaches were "100 percent" behind the players' decision.

"To see our players today try to make change, makes you proud as a coach," added Canucks coach Travis Green.

Here's the other news from around the sports world on Thursday:

NFL

The Steelers held their regularly scheduled practice on Thursday, as Chris Carter wrote.

“We just got done having our first set of team meetings and then some league mandated stuff to talk about,” Ben Roethlisberger said. “Coach [Mike] Tomlin addressed the team briefly about the stuff that’s going on. Practice was never voted on or anything, we just anticipate going out to practice at a normal time. We have unique days with today and tomorrow with a ‘night before the game’ type of situation with mock games tomorrow. As of now, we’re all moving forward as scheduled.”

Some teams canceled their practices on Thursday:

Players and coaches around the league also spoke out:

MLB

Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on Thursday that the Pirates did not discuss sitting out of their game in St. Louis.

"There was no discussion of us not playing," he said. "I did have some talks with people inside, to get their thoughts. There was no discussion of us not playing."

Several other games around the league will not be played:

NBA

The NBA announced that Thursday's games will also be postponed, but that the league hopes to resume games Friday:

NBA players held a meeting on Wednesday night on how to proceed with the remainder of the playoffs and only the Clippers and Lakers voted to cancel the rest of the games.

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