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Vegas Golden Knights' Ryan Reaves Take a Knee

AP

Dallas Stars’ Jason Dickinson (18), Tyler Seguin (91) and Vegas Golden Knights’ Ryan Reaves (75) and goalie Robin Lehner (90) take a knee for Black Lives Matter during the national anthem prior to an NHL hockey playoff game Monday, Aug. 3, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

It all started with text messages to Ryan Reaves from two unlikely sources.

All the major sports leagues postponed games Wednesday to protest the shooting of a Black man by white Wisconsin police. Well, all of the leagues, except the predominantly white NHL.

The Golden Knights’ Reaves, one of the league’s few Black players, was anguishing over how to respond. He just didn’t know how. The uncertainty kept him up for part of the night.

But then he awoke to a text from Tampa Bay defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who is white, saying he also wanted to take action. He received a similar message from Bo Horvat, the captain of the Canucks, who Vegas was scheduled to play tonight in Game 3 of its best-of-seven game Western Conference semifinal series.

By 3 p.m., the NHL acquiesced to the players’ request and postponed all games scheduled for today and Friday.

“That I think was more powerful — that the conversation started with white players on other teams wanting to talk,” Reaves said. “You can’t just talk about it in the bubble, then go home and live your life. You have to be part of it. I expect lots of us to.”

Reaves was the Golden Knights’ representative in a gathering of players to announce the decision, joining Horvat, Dallas’ Jason Dickinson, and Colorado’s Nazem Kadri and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, a former Golden Knight.

The five men were flanked by scores of teammates, all there for the same reason: To say that what happened to Jacob Blake, the man paralyzed from the waist down after being shot Sunday by police, was wrong. The NBA and WNBA players postponed their games Wednesday and today, and MLB and MLS players postponed several throughout their leagues.

Hockey, though, played on, including a Colorado-Dallas game Wednesday night that drew much scrutiny. Hockey may have been a day later than other sports, but it was there today, united.

“The reason why we’re here right now is there’s nobody in this room happy about what is happening,” Bellemare said. “You could change the five guys in front of the mic, they would be the same answers, and that’s the key.”

Like all the protests across sports leagues, the NHL postponing games was a result of players’ action, and Reaves was at the core of it. He was also there on Aug. 3 by joining Dickinson, Vegas goalie Robin Lehner and Stars forward Tyler Seguin kneeling in protest during the American and Canadian national anthems ahead of a postseason game.

Reaves believes that kneeling started a conversation. Neither he nor anyone else has knelt for the anthem since and he’s unsure if he’ll do it again. Minnesota’s Matt Dumba was the only player before Reaves and the others to kneel during the anthem, so it was a strong statement.

“I think this is a much more powerful message today than anything that one or two or three guys can do on the ice,” he said.

Added Dickinson: “That’s what we wanted, to get the conversation going, not only amongst ourselves, but amongst the country and the world.”

Vegas coach Peter DeBoer, who joined a panel with the other three Western Conference coaches, pointed out what has been echoed by many: the action of not playing hockey for two days in itself will do little to further the goals of ending systemic racism.

Players conceded there isn’t much that can be done to that end while they are in the COVID-19 safety bubble in Edmonton. That’s why they wanted to take two days off from games and talk, especially with a group inside hockey gaining more prominence by the day.

The Hockey Diversity Alliance was founded this summer by Sharks forward Evander Kane and former NHL forward Akim Aliu. It’s a nine-member group that includes Kadri and Dumba but not Reaves, though he has expressed interest in joining in the past.

The group has sent a list of requests to the NHL to make the league more inclusive to Black players, which make up about 3% of the league. A report from TSN said those requests included a change in hiring practices at the executive level, a commitment to making team staff and suppliers more diverse, and $100 million over the next 10 years.

“I think the Hockey Diversity Alliance is a great start — they’re getting the ball rolling to bring the white allyship in and get us on board and help them out,” Dickinson said. “I can’t say that we have a definitive plan today — we’re working on things which is why we need a couple days to work things out and get organized and hash out a plan.

“We can talk all we want, but until we do something it’s all just words.”

Reaves is a fan favorite in Vegas, not just for his physical style of play, but because he’s never been afraid to speak his mind. This is the same man who called himself the “lion in the jungle” after a hit to Tom Wilson, the one who told future Hall of Famer Joe Thornton to get glasses if he’s going to be watching a playoff game from the press box after a hit to a teammate that Thornton was suspended for, the one who took the “Muffin Man” nickname bestowed upon him by Kane and ran with it.

He’s the man who after kneeling during the national anthem, took care to make sure everyone knew it was not his intent to disrespect police or military. He’s not just a tough guy in the league and he never has been. But now he’s become one of the faces of a movement throughout hockey.

“He’s a smart, intellectual guy that has a lot of loyalty, both to his race but also to law enforcement and military. He doesn’t do anything without considering everything,” DeBoer said. “I’m real proud of him and proud to stand behind him.”

Reaves can only do so much.

It’s important for white players to also help, which is why Reaves was touched when contacted by white players from across the league, including the message from Shattenkirk, who had a collection of Eastern Conference players behind him from their hub in Toronto. And, of course, from Horvat, who the Golden Knights are facing in a heated series, where Reaves is Vegas’ physical enforcer.

“If you look around this room there’s a lot of white athletes in here,” Reaves said. “And I think that’s the statement that’s being made right now.”

Article written by #LasVegasSun

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