NHL Postpones Thursday’s Playoff Games In Solidarity With Other Leagues

Thursday’s two scheduled Stanley Cup Playoff games between the New York Islanders versus the Philadelphia Flyers and the Vegas Golden Knights versus the Vancouver Canucks have been postponed.

This comes following San Jose Sharks left winger Evander Kane and Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba calling out the NHL on not postponing Wednesday’s games despite the NBA, WNBA, MLS, and some of the MLB postponing in solidarity with Jacob Blake and Black Lives Matter. This activism of sports comes just days after 29-year-old Blake was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Kane first tweeted out on Wednesday that “Actually it’s incredibly insulting as a black man in hockey the lack of action and acknowledgement from the NHL.” Kane has led the fight against the lack of awareness particularly in the NHL on the issues of racial injustice. He is the co-head of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, a player based organization founded in June that aims to eradicate systemic racism and intolerance in hockey. Dumba, who is is also a member of the organization, called out the league’s response ‘disheartening’, tweeting out that:

 “We the @The Official HDA have formally requested the @NHL to suspend all playoff games today. We strongly feel this sends a clear message that human rights take priority over sports.”

Out of all the American professional sports leagues, the NHL has struggled the most with diversity. The Hockey Diversity Alliance hopes to change that through encouraging accountability from the league and by making hockey a more widely accessible game.