Bruins Use Pause to Learn, Reflect

BostonBruins.com - Brad Marchand knows that everyone who loves the game of hockey wants to see the players on the ice. But he also believes that everyone who loves the game of hockey should understand why, right now, they are not.
"Sports is, it's a luxury, it's a luxury to watch this game, to play this game," said Marchand. "When it becomes about people's safety in people's lives and people feeling comfortable to be in their own skin, it's much more important than that. I understand people want to watch the games and understand people want to see this, but it's too bad.
"We have bigger things that we care about and that we want to do and improve upon and the people that we want to support and that's what matters."

Players from the remaining eight teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs came together on Thursday to make that statement loud and clear, deciding as a group that the league would pause for two days in solidarity with their fellow professional athletes in the NBA, WNBA, MLB, MLS, and WTA to protest ongoing racial injustice in the United States.
"Right now, it's about any type of social injustice and racism, but obviously hockey is close to our hearts and right now it's about supporting our fellow players and being there for them and supporting them," said Patrice Bergeron. "Obviously within the hockey world, we definitely want to accomplish some things but that also means to go broader in that and helping in society as well and try to bring change."
The Bruins began their discussions shortly after Wednesday night's Game 3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Hours earlier, players in the NBA announced their intentions to pause their postseason in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police. And by Thursday morning, dozens of NHL players from teams in both the Toronto and Edmonton bubbles were communicating with each other and with the newly formed Hockey Diversity Alliance about the best way to respond.
"We already had some things, some meetings, planned with Tampa Bay early in the morning and it kind of snowballed from there where we met with the Islanders and then Philly joined," said Bergeron. "It was something that was planned that we were looking forward to and have some good organic conversations and making sure that we're obviously making the right decision and supporting and doing what's right.
"I think it was great and powerful to see what happened [on Thursday], also seeing all those four teams obviously battling on the ice for one thing. But then we realize that's beyond sports right now and it's about human rights and it's both supporting our fellow players in this league and it was great to hear from them as well - Ryan Reaves and everyone else in in Edmonton, but then also the guys from the Hockey Diversity Alliance…I thought it was a very powerful day."
Marchand echoed his longtime teammate's sentiments, adding that the discussions were "needed, especially in a predominantly white sport."
"You want to be part of a solution and continue those conversations," said Marchand. "It has to start, it has to continue. We set that precedent early on here…we do want to be part of the solution and continue to move forward and be better, and this is another opportunity where we need to prove that.
"And then we have that opportunity to show that we want to continue to be better and grow in our game and the realization that it's much bigger than where we're at and we all need to learn a lot about what's happening outside of our own lives.
"A lot of us, we don't truly understand what it's like in other people's shoes and we need to. It's the only way that things are going to change."

Marchand added that those who criticize athletes for bringing politics into sports are off base in their condemnation.
"That's one thing that people continually mix up is they bring politics into these situations and that's not what this is about," said Marchand. "We're not being political and that's not the goal and that's not what we're here for. There needs to be changes made throughout society. And it's bigger than hockey right now and it's bigger than sports. It's about people being equal and being the same and being treated the same and it's just about making changes.
"People want to point in different directions and making it about something that it's not and that's what we want to avoid. We don't want to make it about a political statement. We want to make it about people being better and making changes and getting to the point where we all see each other as equals and that's what it's about."
Bergeron has been working to better understand the issues facing the Black community for several months. In the wake of George Floyd's murder in late May, Boston's alternate captain released a powerful statement speaking in support of equality, while also donating $25,000 each to the Boston chapter of the NAACP and Centre Multiethnique de Quebec.
"I had a discussion with them about that [equality] and immigrants coming in and coming over and [trying] to establish themselves and it's not always easy and then you realize that," said Bergeron. "It's what we can do to be better and to give everyone a fair chance and to be equal basically. I think that resonated with me when I had that discussion."
Marchand explained how revealing some of the conversations with his fellow NHLers have been and how everyone can learn from understanding each other and the challenges they face.
"I think that with the more and more people you speak to and the more you learn about, [racism] is everywhere," said Marchand. "That's where we really need to open our eyes and open our hearts and realize that there's a lot of change that needs to happen. Speaking specifically about what needs to happen, that's what we're going to continue to talk about. I don't think any of us have the perfect solution, but obviously there's things that we can all do to be part of it and that's what we're going to continue to talk about today and moving forward."