The Puck Stops Here

Shane Doan of the Phoenix Coyotes is on the Team Canada roster for the upcoming World Championships. He is one of the better forwards on the roster. This is a problem for Canadian Liberal MPs Denis Coderre of Bourassa (Northern Montreal) and Marcel Proulx of Hull-Aylmer (Ottawa suburbs that are in Quebec). In 2005 in a game where Phoenix played in Montreal, Doan (in what was likely an off-color joke) referred to linesman Michel Cormier as "fucking French". Here is the story. Coderre had unsuccessfully tried to get Doan off of the 2006 Canadian Olympic Team over this remark which has lead to lawsuits.

Shouldn't members of parliament have better things to worry about than who plays on Canadian hockey teams? What Doan said was ill-advised, but it's not worthy of a federal case. It's an overblown statement to claim that it is racism. It makes these MPs look stupid and petty.

Hockey teams should be selected by hockey people for hockey reasons and not political people for political reasons. Doan was given a gross misconduct by the officials in the game in question. That seems like more than sufficient punishment. It's become an immature personal battle between Coderre and Doan in which Coderre is trying to exert undue political influence to further punish Doan. These people would do best to grow up and forget about it. Something said in a hockey game in 2005 is hardly the most pressing issue for the Canadian parliament.

Here is the Ottawa Citizen story on the fight which is now about Doan's spot on the 2007 World Championships Team.