Minor hockey column

From The Daily News of Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007 . . .

Something smells.
This isn’t any routine odour, either. No, this one stinks to high heaven.
And if you’re a member of the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association you have it on you. It’s in your car, your van, your truck, your home, your closets. It’s on your clothes and the soles of your shoes.
It is everywhere. And it’s sad.
If you’re a member of the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association you have suspended Ladd Maloski for one year and told his wife, Monica, to behave or else. All this because they objected to attempts to sweep a despicable situation under the carpet.
(Oh, yes, you’re right. They can appeal, so long as they send along a nonrefundable $100 for the right to appear before the left hand of the KMHA’s kangaroo court. Methinks there are many betters ways to spend $100, like flushing it down the john.)
The KMHA board of directors that you put in place is trying to bury the fact that on the night of Oct. 20, a player from the midget AAA North Kamloops Lions got drunk and ended up in hospital.
There appear to be quite a few parents in our town who seem to think it’s OK for teenagers to get together for a few brewskis on occasion, never mind whether they are of age. There may even be a few parents — wink! wink! — who allow it to happen in their homes.
In this instance, however, the party took place in the home of Stan Burton. He was the KMHA president then and he is the president of your KMHA today.
It used to be that people who held such offices were held to higher standards — much higher standards — than those they serve. Apparently, that isn’t the case with the KMHA.
When the Maloskis began to have doubts about the KMHA’s desire and ability to deal with this situation in a fair and timely fashion, they went to the media.
For that, the board of directors that you put in place has whacked them.
And, in so doing, that board of directors has delivered a simple message to its membership: Keep your mouths shut or you could be next in this game of whack-a-mole.
Perhaps the most frightening thing to arise out of this mess, aside from the arrogance that continues to be shown by the KMHA executive, is the fear that pervades the membership of this association.
Since this story first hit our pages Oct. 24, The Daily News has received untold voicemails, e-mails and letters, many of them from parents who choose to remain anonymous. The vast majority of those people admitted to being fearful of drawing the wrath of the association upon their children should their names become public.
People in this community, it seems, would prefer to live with the risk of situations such as this reoccurring, rather than rise up on their hind legs and be heard. It seems they would prefer to put their children at risk of becoming involved in drunken parties rather than be part of a movement to bring this sort of behaviour to an end.
Why? Is it because they, like so many parents in this great country of ours, continue to live vicariously and chase the NHL dream through their children? They would risk living a nightmare, such as what Monica and Ladd Maloski have been living with, in order to chase an unreachable dream?
If that is what is happening, parents in this community really, really need to redefine their priorities.
Quick now, name a KMHA product who has gone on to an NHL career in which he has played regularly. Mark Recchi. And after him?
It is apparent that in the City of Kamloops the chances of your son getting drunk in the home of the KMHA president have been far greater than the chances of his playing in the NHL.
The player who ended up drunk and in hospital has signed a statement in which he claims to have arrived at the Burton home “after” 8 p.m. Monica Maloski picked him up “about 11:30 p.m.” In between, he writes, “I drank two big beers then” two unnamed teammates “gave me two glasses of hard liquor, one after the other. There were five or six boys around the couch in the garage encouraging me to drink. . . . I don’t think any other kids were given hard liquor. . . .
“I know I should not have drank that much but it was a party and I wanted to fit in and do what my friends do.”
Before long, this teenager was vomiting and vomiting and vomiting.
Which is where the stench began.

Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.