Golden Knights, NHL join forces to protest racial injustice

Ryan Reaves’ fear when he woke up Thursday was that he would be the only player on the Golden Knights who wanted to sit out Game 3 against the Vancouver Canucks.

“But I woke up to a text from (Tampa Bay defenseman) Kevin Shattenkirk, and he had a bunch of guys out east there and they wanted to talk,” Reaves said. “And then I got a text saying Vancouver wanted to talk. That, I think, was more powerful.”

NHL players joined athletes from other leagues and professional sports Thursday by choosing not to play as a protest against racial inequality and police brutality.

The league, in a joint statement with the NHL Players’ Association, announced Thursday’s and Friday’s games were postponed and the playoffs would resume Saturday.

The Knights were scheduled to meet the Canucks on Thursday at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, in the Western Conference semifinals. The league has not announced a revised schedule for the best-of-seven series, which is tied at 1.

“Black and Brown communities continue to face real, painful experiences,” the statement said. “The NHL and NHLPA recognize that much work remains to be done before we can play an appropriate role in a discussion centered on diversity, inclusion and social justice.

“We understand that the tragedies involving Jacob Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others require us to recognize this moment. We pledge to work to use our sport to influence positive change in society.”

The NHL and its players were criticized Wednesday for continuing to play rather than joining players from other leagues who protested the recent shooting of Blake, a Black man, by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks chose to not take the floor for their playoff game against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, beginning a chain reaction of player strikes across the sports world.

Thursday’s three NBA games were postponed, as were three games in the WNBA. Seven Major League Baseball games were called off Thursday, while eight games on the schedule were contested.

In response to the NHL’s inaction Wednesday, the recently formed Hockey Diversity Alliance made a formal request to the NHL to suspend all playoff games Thursday.

The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders were scheduled to play Thursday in Toronto. Friday’s schedule featured two games: Boston vs. Tampa Bay and Colorado vs. Dallas.

“We needed to do something and make a stand, and I think this is the appropriate form of action that we’re doing right now,” Canucks captain Bo Horvat said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our group of guys to come up with this solution.”

Horvat said the Canucks met as a team Thursday morning and took the unusual step of reaching out to Reaves and the Knights, their opponent in the playoffs. The teams agreed not to play, he said, and others followed suit.

The Knights organization released a statement supporting the players’ decision not to play, as did the Canucks.

“I figured this morning that our players would be thinking about making change, and it weighed on their minds,” Vancouver coach Travis Green said. “I know personally I was thinking about it last night, what would happen this morning when I got to the rink. Again, I’m proud of our group.”

The Knights were scheduled to have media availability at 9:45 a.m. before it was delayed while a decision was reached by players across the league whether to play.

Following the afternoon announcement that games were postponed, Reaves was flanked by Horvat, Dallas’ Jason Dickinson and Colorado’s Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Nazem Kadri during a videoconference call to discuss the players’ decision.

Players from all four teams remaining in the Edmonton bubble stood behind them in a powerful show of solidarity.

“The conversation started with white players on other teams wanting to talk,” Reaves said. “I think that’s the most powerful thing that happened today, and now you see us all coming together, all opponents here.

“I’d go to war with these guys, and I hate their guts on the ice, but I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. This statement that they’ve made today is something that’s going to last.”

Reaves took a knee along with Knights goalie Robin Lehner, Dickinson and Dallas’ Tyler Seguin during the national anthems before their round-robin game Aug. 3, a move Reaves believes was important to begin the conversation in the NHL about systemic racism.

Bellemare said the players’ current goal is to continue to bring awareness to systemic racism and push the discussion forward to enact change.

“Those two days, we know that they are not maybe going to change everything right now, but the main point is that we are all here and we’re aware of what’s going on. It has to stop,” said Bellemare, who played two seasons with the Knights. “The reason we’re here right now is because there’s nobody in this room happy about what is happening.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.