The case does not have much game in us
Last night I had an interesting conversation with Mark Lazerus, a NHL senior writer for athletics, based in Chicago.
Two of his colleagues, Katie Strang and Dan Robson, are here covering the trial, but otherwise, Lazerus says that the case does not seem to be on the radar of many sports journalists or fans in the United States.
“It was a big problem when the names of the players came out, when we could put names on this, something like that, mystery, because everyone knew who was on that list. I felt that was going to be a decisive moment,” he told me.
“I remember writing a column that said as: ‘You can no longer hide from it. You cannot pretend that this is not real … These are the players you have supported. These are players whose shirts you have bought.'”
And although the public interest and the coverage of the media have continued in Canada, it has calmed down in the United States
“It doesn’t seem to have had the impact that I thought I was going to have … He moved a bit to the following.”
At this time, says Lazerus, everyone is much more interested in the NHL playoffs than a trial on some Junior hockey players in Canada, despite the fact that the five have had links with the NHL teams.
Lazerus expects this judgment, regardless of the verdict, finally call attention to problems within the Junior Hockey System, a culture that many have criticized for creating an atmosphere of misogyny and homophobia, and perhaps provide impulse for change.
“I don’t know if there has been a case of such a high profile that involves such prominent players that they were so young at that time,” he says. “It seems that we have seen much more out of the hockey world than in other sports at that age.”
