Joel Quenneville and the Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 Wednesday night to improve to 7-0-0 on the season. That was the only win the organization could claim.
On a much more important front, Quenneville, the Panthers and the NHL failed miserably. Despite Quenneville being named as one of the seven people who were made aware of but failed to act on sexual assault allegations against former Chicago Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010, he was for some reason allowed to coach the Panthers for Wednesday’s game.
Quenneville, who won three Stanley Cups as Blackhawks coach, previously denied knowing anything about the situation until this year. Kyle Beach, who came forward as the player previously known as “John Doe,” said in an interview with TSN on Wednesday that there is no way Quenneville didn’t know about his allegations against Aldrich at the time.
"I've witnessed meetings, right after I reported it to [Blackhawks mental skills coach] James Gary, that were held in Joel Quenneville's office. There's absolutely no way that he can deny knowing it," Beach said.
The findings of Jenner & Block’s independent investigation were made public on Tuesday. There was plenty of time for someone, anyone to realize that letting Quenneville coach Wednesday night was not a smart thing to do. Beach’s interview with TSN aired before the game, giving the Panthers and/or the NHL one last chance to step in and do the right thing, but they still did nothing.
To make matters worse, Quenneville refused to meet with reporters after the game. Instead, Florida general manager Bill Zito briefly met with the media to issue a prepared statement, but did not take any questions.
“In light of today’s news, we felt it appropriate that I address you all,” Zito said. “Joel will be meeting with commissioner Gary Bettman [Thursday], and he has no comments prior to that meeting.
”As an organization we commend Kyle Beach for his courage in coming forward this evening to bring to light the pain he endured in his time in Chicago. The information that has become available is deeply troubling.
There is no question that the events described in yesterday’s report are serious and severe.
”We are working closely with the National Hockey League to assist with the ongoing process. With respect to that, we won’t comment further until after the commissioner’s meeting with Joel.”
It was a pathetic, cowardly course of action for both Quenneville and the Panthers. If Quenneville can’t or won’t answer questions until after he meets with Bettman, then he shouldn’t have been coaching before then either. Zito calling the report “deeply troubling” rings a bit hollow if it apparently wasn’t troubling enough to pull Quenneville off the bench.
Combined with comments from Blackhawks players Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane Wednesday night that missed the mark, it seems like there are still too many people not fully grasping the seriousness of the cover-up in addition to the alleged assault itself.
While praising Beach for coming forward and saying they wish more had been done at the time, Toews and Kane also stood by former Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and senior vice president Al MacIsaac, both of whom resigned on Tuesday after it was revealed they were among those who had been made aware of the allegations in 2010. Kane called Bowman “a great man” and Toews called both of them “good people.” The disconnect between wishing more had been done and heaping praise on the very people who did nothing doesn’t seem to register.
The Bruins play the Panthers again on Saturday at TD Garden. It is hard to imagine Quenneville will still be behind the bench then, with a suspension, firing or resignation post-Bettman meeting seeming highly likely.
But it was hard to imagine Quenneville would’ve been allowed to coach Wednesday night, too. If anything has become clear these last couple days, it’s that we shouldn’t assume any of these people are going to do the right thing.
Related
