Declaration of Principles praised in Tampa

TAMPA --In September, the NHL and the NHL Players' Association unveiled hockey's
Declaration of Principles
, developed to create the best possible family hockey experience, and was adopted by 17 hockey organizations globally.
The next step in advancing those principles came Friday at the 2018 NHL All-Star Declaration of Principles Summit at the Westin Tampa Waterside, which kicked off 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend in Tampa.

Emceed by NHL Network analyst and former NHL goaltender Kevin Weekes, the summit featured an array of experts who shared their insights on how the principles can be applied to improving the athletes' and fans' experiences in hockey and in all sports. Keynote speakers at the summit, attended by 300 invited guests from hockey organizations across the United States and Canada, included WWE personality Titus O'Neil, former NHL player and coach Ted Nolan and author, educator and activist Tony Porter.

"Our hope is today these conversations can set an example, they can inform, they can enlighten and they can produce new ideas for growing our game and new ways to interact and develop, perhaps even create new audiences, and now especially, and hopefully, support our core belief that hockey is for everyone," Commissioner Gary Bettman said.
Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik expressed hope the summit can be continued at future All-Star Weekends. The 2018 GEICO NHL All-Star Skills Competition is at Amalie Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVA Sports), and the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game is Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVA Sports)
"This morning marks one of those opportunities to have conversations about athletes' involvement in the community, increasing diversity of hockey at all levels and life skill development," Vinik said. "These are all important conversations that should happen at all levels of society, from business leaders to politicians and down to the grassroots level."
O'Neil, a 40-year-old Boynton Beach, Florida, native, spoke about the importance of athlete activism. He told the story of how his mother was sexually assaulted when she was 11 years old and gave birth to him when she was 12.
Growing up in poverty, O'Neil was told repeatedly he'd be "dead or in jail by the time I was 16." But with the support of others, he was able to overcome his circumstances.
Now, he gives back by raising millions of dollars for college scholarships, the United Way, the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Special Olympics.
"A lot of people want to know, 'Where do I start?'" O'Neil said. 'I say it all the time, 'Start at home.' I went from a guy that never met my biological dad, was not interested in meeting my biological father, to being a proud father of two sons, 11- and 13-year-old kids."
In a follow-up discussion panel on an athlete's responsibility in society, former NHL defenseman Andrew Ference said the player has to take the initiative.
"It's not somebody's job in the front office to hold your hand and do everything for you and take you to something that you care for," Ference said. "The onus is on the players. There has to be some self-driven desire to be involved in the community."
Nolan discussed the many obstacles he overcame to become one of approximately 60 men of aboriginal descent to play in the NHL and one of a handful who have coached in the League. Nolan, who is of Ojibwe descent, grew up with 11 siblings in a small house with no running hot water or electricity on the Garden River First Nation reservation near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

He recalled telling his sons, Jordan and Brandon, who each went on to play in the NHL, that he wasn't the strongest skater, had a weak wrist shot and wasn't the best hitter, but made it to the NHL "because I believed I could."
"If I could play in the National Hockey League, then anyone can do anything," Nolan said.
In a panel discussion about how hockey can increase diversity among players and fans, Harrison Browne, a forward with the Metropolitan Riveters of the National Women's Hockey League, shared how coming out as the first transgender athlete in North American professional sports in 2017 has helped others.
"That generated a lot of people reaching out to me from the LGBTQ community saying that seeing me be my authentic self enabled them to be their own authentic self while they played their sport," Browne said.
Porter, the chief executive officer of A Call to Men, is dedicated to preventing violence against women and promoting a healthy male perspective. He focused on the role sports plays in the dividing line between men and women.
"Every coach who says to a boy, 'You play like a girl,' the follow-up question should be, 'Coach, what are you then saying about girls?' Porter said.
The final panel discussion of the summit focused on how hockey can be used to teach life skills on the ice, in the locker room and away from the rink.
"For me, it's a being a good person every single day, doing the right thing," said Kacey Bellamy, an alternate captain on the 2018 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team. "And that can be learned at a young age when kids are sponges and taking in everything and it's going to go such a long way."