Report reveals domestic violence, sexual assault education lags in NHL

By foxsports
Published

Sexual assault and domestic violence are becoming too commonplace in sports headlines, and leagues are starting to take action. Earlier this month, MLB and the MLBPA unveiled a domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.

So what is being done in the NHL? According to a recent report from Yahoo Sports, apparently not enough. 

Yahoo spoke with a number of anonymous current NHL players about how the league handles education on the topic. After all, the NHL -- like most other major sports leagues -- offers educational seminars on topics such as social-media management, financial planning, substance abuse and identity theft. But according to the NHL players Yahoo spoke to, the league does not do the same for sexual assault. 

“A lot of time, they’ll talk about social issues like that," one player told Yahoo. "They have a lot of research available for you. But that specifically -- sexual abuse -- there’s not a whole lot of conversation about that.”

Players detailed to Yahoo many of the different types of meetings where a discussion about sexual assault and domestic violence would be appropriate, but explained the league falls short in multiple ways on the topic almost across the board. The NHL and NHLPA show a 10-to-12-minute video to all teams before each season that focuses on different off-ice problems players could face, but according to Yahoo, the NHL said the video has never focused on domestic violence or sexual assault.

“To be fair to them, there are so many issues out there to be aware of in the world of professional athletics," a current NHL player said. "So they try to get to the most relevant things for each year. But this is in the headlines right now. This season, for sure, it will be a topic that they cover probably more in depth."

Players said the league does not currently use many resources, such as first-person accounts from victims of domestic violence or sexual assault, or educational techniques that could help improve NHL programs on the issue. They gave Yahoo a variety of suggestions as to how the league could improve.

(To read the complete Yahoo story, click here.)

But there is at least one team that plans to step up its domestic violence/sexual assault program this year: the Los Angeles Kings. One of the team's defensemen, Slava Voynov, is serving a 90-day sentence in jail after pleading no contest on July 2 to a misdemeanor domestic-violence charge following an incident last October in which he allegedly choked and hit his wife and pushed her into a television. Voynov was suspended indefinitely from the league as of Oct. 20, 2014. 

Before Voynov's no-contest plea this summer, however, Kings GM Dean Lombardi told The Orange County Register that the team will increase its educational programs on domestic violence.

“Clearly, we could do more. Maybe, whether it’s the coaches or the managers or even the personnel people, if those people could open to us could maybe we have been aware of this potentially happening? That’s the first step.

"The second thing, and this is what I said with the Voynov thing. I walked down to [Kings Vice President of Hockey Operations and Legal Affairs] Jeff Solomon’s office and said: `This is my fault.’ We neglected to educate our players. We spend time teaching them systems, nutrition and everything else, but we missed a big step here, in terms of ensuring that they understand right and wrong.

"That has to be reinforced, not only as a human being but as somebody who is a representative of your community. It heightens the need for this.”

(h/t Yahoo! Sports)