It’s my Parting Shot to express incredulity at the latest edition of “pass the buck” when it comes to another instance of sexual misconduct in hockey…..

I wish I had kept the tweet I saw from a respected newspaper columnist when it came to some coaches and their teflon attitudes when it comes to their interactions with their athletes…essentially a, “do as I say or else” mentality.

When that kind of thinking crosses the line, as it did 10 years ago with the Chicago Blackhawks’ video coach making sexual advances to two players or in the more infamous…and disgusting…succession of players being taken advantage of by Graham James during his time with Moose Jaw, Swift Current and Calgary of the W-H-L, the need to find out why, who else knew about what was going on and why wasn’t anything done sooner to stop the abuse is paramount in everyone’s mind!

In the case of Graham James, the victims were youngsters with dreams of playing in the N-H-L and James preyed on that by using his authority to get from them what he wanted. In the Chicago case, people knew what was going on, but passed off the responsibility of stopping it on to others, who dropped the ball terribly, because the Blackhawks were in the throes of becoming a Stanley Cup champion!

No matter the circumstance, those who should’ve done something didn’t because they hoped it would go away!

Unfortunately, it didn’t!

Lessons that should’ve been learned from Graham James obviously haven’t been. The N-H-L needs to lead the way in the Blackhawks’ case and set a standard that everyone follows…so that future attempts at people in authority sexually abusing athletes, or others in a hockey organization, are stone-walled immediately!

That’s my Parting Shot, I’m Les Lazaruk…..