On Saturday, Nov. 11, Tech Hockey Guide published an article bringing light to allegations made against Michigan Tech head coach Joe Shawhan.
Patrick Marcinkevics, a player for the Huskies who, according to the article, is “taking a break from the team” shared on his Instagram page an alleged conversation between Marcinkevics and Shawhan. In the recording, Shawhan and Marcinkevics can allegedly be heard arguing. Marcinkevics interrupted Shawhan, leading the coach to say “Do you want me to f*cking answer or knock your teeth out. What do you want? You tell me right now.”
The allegations made against Shawhan are just the latest issues within hockey and it’s culture to be opened up. This culture issue within hockey isn’t isolated. Michigan Tech isn’t even the only CCHA team, the conference in which Ferris plays in, to undergo a scandal this year. Bowling Green had their coach Ty Eigner and three players suspended in relation to a hazing incident. This begs the question of when hockey players, coaches and fans will take a long, hard look into the mirror when examining this wildly toxic culture throughout the game they love.
Sticking with the topic of collegiate hockey, the toxic culture is even shown in women’s ice hockey. Earlier this year, the Boston Globe and the Athletic published articles detailing the hazing and toxic culture within Katey Stone’s Harvard women’s hockey program. The Athletic article details hazing, racism, a fining system and a general neglect of mental health. One anonymous player went as far to say that “the whole team was centered around shame.”
This is a clear cut issue through all levels of the game. Most impactfully, the lower levels of hockey. A 2021 study done by the Angus Reid Institute found that “a majority of those closest to the game- be they players, coaches, or friends and family members of participants- say hockey at the amateur and recreational level has culture problems.”
The study looked at racism and misogyny in hockey. Majority found that those who were polled believed there to be a problem of racism and misogyny within the sport. The severity of the identified problems varied.
Bill Peters, a former NHL coach who resigned following allegations of racism, returned to the hockey world when it was announced that he would coach the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL. In the announcement, the team stressed that Peter’s had gone through “anti-racism training and coaching certificate program.”
The hiring signifies that Peters, a disgraced coach who was accused of racism, will be coaching young men in a junior league. This shows that the WHL is okay with recycling a coach accused of refering a player as the N-word just because he completed anti-racism training and had to get a coaching certificate. This just isn’t enough. At the lower levels of hockey, college and the junior leagues, we trust the coach’s to not only lead the players on the ice, but off. Coaches are supposed to be a monumental figure in players’ lives who teach life lessons. It doesn’t sit right that Peters and other coaches could get a chance to do so again.
This culture issue doesn’t start and end with those in the sport. It’s reach is outside as well. Last week’s edition of the Torch included a piece of mine which discussed the tragic death of Adam Johnson, a player who had his throat cut in a freak accident. Within the piece, I mentioned how certain conversations around Johnson’s death turned malicious as some created a racial issue from it. Matthew Petgrave, the Black player whose blade hit Johnson, received racist posts which directed racial slurs at him while accusing him of murder.
From top to bottom, it’s clear to me that hockey has a vicious and non-inclusive culture issue. To those who coach, play and love the sport: it’s in our hands, and only our hands, to fix the culture of the sport we love so dearly.