Something Rotten in Sudbury

The Oxford dictionary doesn't have an entry for bad idea, but separately defines bad as "unpleasant, full of problems", and idea as a "plan, or a thought". The Oxford dictionary doesn't have an entry for the Sudbury Wolves, but they'll soon become synonymous with an unpleasant plan full of problems.

There have been some spectacularly bad ideas in history by people smarter than Wolves GM Don Di Clemente. America's favorite asshole inventor, Thomas Edison burned off his fingerprints trying to prove the existence of, and subsequently capture ghosts when apparently a simple phone call to a rag-tag team of busters would have sufficed. Serbian genius Nikola Tesla spent decades trying to invent an earthquake machine, because if there's one thing the world doesn't have enough of, it's earthquakes. And noted high-brow beverage maker Mountain Dew took the biggest tumble when they had the good sense to let the internet-that collective of happy well adjusted people name their newest beverages resulting in mouth-watering flavors like Gushing Granny, Diabeetus and Hitler Did Nothing Wrong. Why do we bring this up?

On Sunday night, in the waning hours of December 1st, a month noted for it's festive spirit and gift-giving, the Sudbury Wolves delivered one hell of a hot turd on the doorstep of their players, their fans, hockey fans around the world and common decency at large. When the ink had dried on the new contracts signed, Don Di Clemente went back to his house, tucked himself in with his favorite Wolves PJs on and slipped into a dream reality where signing Mike Babcock and Bill Peters was a brilliant move praised by analysts and peers. 

Instead, he awoke, and something was off. Late trailer park supervisor and noted meteorologist Jim Leahy had described the tools needed to measure what was going on. Mr. Di Clemente had caused the shit barometer to rise, and the shit pressure in the atmosphere was increasing to the point your ears could burst. We had a full fledged category five shit storm on our hands! 

Fans were upset, the FOHL was upset, all those angry people on twitter were tweeting and sharing their angry tweets, and when that happens, something needs to be done.

Imagine being in the PR department for the Sudbury Wolves and it's Monday morning. The public relations department of the Catholic Church or the White House wouldn't have the kind of slippery lawyer talk to get themselves ahead of this shit storm. 

Fans and critics are right to ask, why? Sure, hiring Mike Babcock, one of the NHL's all time most successful coaches would be an instant boost to any FOHL team. But why sign him now, as allegations of his borderline abusive behavior come to light, and why sign an admitted racist in Bill Peters who is so disturbed listening to rap music he ruins kids careers? This whole move seemed like a middle finger to sensibility in general. These two coaches seem like the last people who should be around teenagers. Jerry Sandusky might have been a better coaching option at this point.

Elgin Street is packed with protesters, season ticket holders are threatening to boycott the team, Corey Stillman, respected NHL veteran is in disbelief as he packs up his office and says goodbye to the team he knew for only 15 months. Does this move make the basement dwelling Sudbury Wolves better? Who is served by the firing/hiring? Does it even serve Babcock and Peters, who still in the spotlight now have a collapsing star sized light on them? What other allegations are going to come forward as past players wonder how they will treat their teenage and vulnerable players?

All in all, this is a head scratcher. The kind of head scratcher where you dig your nails in and start to peel off your own scalp and start to chip away at your skull, as nail and bone and blood stream down your face. It makes no sense. Bill Peters should be away from the game, maybe trying out to be a kicker on the Minnesota Vikings or something where his propensity for kicking things will be better served. Mike Babcock, while not as egregious as Peters' dark history, needs to step away from the spotlight. He needs to make amends that he was a product, and a catalyst of an old boys club of hockey where verbal, physical, emotional and financial abuse was weaponized to win hockey games. He, like the game of hockey itself needs to grow and mature as it becomes something else, something better. 

This move by the Sudbury Wolves spits in the face of hockey being an inclusive game, it spits in the face of the FOHL as a league that prioritizes young men and their careers on and off the ice, it spits in the face of the victims of the sport that have come forward at their own peril to expose some of the darkest corners of our game. What Sudbury is saying is that those voices don't matter, that winning games is more important than the personal well being and growth of their players, and that the status quo can remain.

What Don Di Clemente has done is a business move, and perhaps that's the lens he and these signings will be viewed through. Perhaps to build a winner, sometimes you need to be like the wolves among the sheep. Or maybe next December we will see his name and face next to Bad Idea in the Oxford dictionary.