hugs & handshakes & arms, oh my! welcome to the penguins erik :)

🥺

Detroit Red Wings Hometown Holiday Assist 2017

I think it’s so amazing how a person of color has had their name engraved on the Stanley Cup within the past 5 years😌✨

(2017: Trevor Daley, 2018: Devante Smith-Pelly, 2020 & 2021: Mathieu Joseph, 2022: Nazem Kadri)

The Penguins have promoted Andy Saucier, Erik Heasley, Amanda Kessel and Trevor Daley to the following roles, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.

Andy Saucier as Director of Professional Personnel

Erik Heasley as Director of Minor League and Amateur Scouting Operations

Amanda Kessel as Special Assistant to the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager

Trevor Daley as Special Assistant to the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager

"At this time, I feel it is best for continuity that I formally continue in both roles as President and General Manager in the hockey operations department," said Dubas. "We will continue to reevaluate the GM position alongside all others in future off-seasons, to ensure that we are optimizing all facets of the department. We have a small but extremely dedicated management team here, and I have come to know each of them quite well over the last couple of months. We have also added both Jason Spezza and Vukie Mpofu to provide us with a nice mixture of playing experience, front office acumen, and growth potential."

rip to the leafs. he won the break up

you fucking love to see Kyle Dubas make a fucking commitment to diversifying hockey by taking Amanda Kessel and Trevor Daley under his wing as special assistants to president of hockey ops/GM

Amanda Kessel and bestie Trevor Daley with some big ass promotions. GOOD FOR THEM!!!

Trevor Daley on Jamie Benn's 1000 game ceremony💚

☆ . ° . a prospective resident said: Mw?

i'd love to see glowprincess, lakeishatryna, deaven.booker, jjinnno, india love, edie liberty rose, softest.hard, aj saudin, holly lim, lame.cobain, cindy kimberly, stenss, chella man, symphani soto, nydiah soto, trevor jackson, diggy simmons, daniel daley, trey richards, arin ray, jordyn woods, doja cat, lizeth selene, victoria monet, meg thee stallion, jeongjimann, kburton_25, sarunas j. jackson, deronhorton, youra.chou, siiiido, dustymilwer, oanhdaqueen, lapetitejamie, bby.ambi, isabella peschardt, pameluft, girlygaaaal, lynhci_, ph1girl, zu3fe1, lamlamago, pasabist, jihoon kim, jamila strand, steve lacy, amirah strand, susie vieira, serena isioma, alejandro speitzer, amaya colon, jay wheeler, nxshaya, bryan reyes, nara aziza, aicha faye, raveena aurora, alice wang, justice smith, and myke towers !

Labutius Selina (Straw) Mathews, 93, of Saint Cloud, FL passed away Sunday, May 7, 2023 at the home of her daughter and son-in-law who she had lived with the last 14 years. She was born June 14, 1929 in Towanda, PA to her late parents, George Muller Straw and Helen Lorraine Witherite Straw.

Labutius, was nicknamed “Boots”, after an old comic strip named “Boots and her Buddies”. Boots graduated from Clearfield High School, in Clearfield, PA. Labutius then attended Bob Jones University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Religion. There she met her husband, William Philo Mathews. They married August 19, 1950 and enjoyed 50 wonderful years together until his death of cancer in 2001. She is survived by her children, Elisabeth Jane Daley (Mark) and William George Mathews (div. Carol) and one brother Perry Clark Straw of Oregon, IL. She was preceded in death by her brother Mervin LeVoy Straw and his wife Margrit, brother Philip George Straw, sister-in-law Lorraine Straw, and niece Naomi Dhuse. She leaves her beloved grandchildren: Janelle Holloway (Joseph), Stephen Daley (Mandy), Holly Groce (Michael), Timothy Daley (Laura), Pam Gregory (Michael), Susan Spafford (David), and Erika Christofolo (Ed). She also leaves her great grandchildren: Josiah, Aliyah, Chasen, Trevor, Andrick, Caleb, and Joanna Holloway; Anna and Jackson Buzzard; Benjamin and Nathaniel Daley; Forest Groce; and Zyla Daley; Natasha, Michael, Caleb, and Joshua Gregory; Annika, Jalyn, and Turner Spafford; and Natalie and Nathan Christofolo as well as nieces Barbara Jean Mathews, and Betsy Mathews and nephews John Mathews and Perry Straw.

Labutius (Boots) accepted the Lord as her Savior during her Uncle Rev. Walter Young’s presentation of the Gospel using a replica of the Jewish tabernacle. She came from generations of Christians with her father being a Baptist minister. She grew up in Pennsylvania and New York state. After marriage, they settled in Roxbury, CT where her husband was from. She loved music and wrote songs. She taught music to all 8 grades at Booth Free School in Roxbury and taught piano for many years. Then she became a 2nd or 3rd grade school teacher. Boots kept her class in order, created an enjoyable learning environment, and loved all her students. Former students have shared the impact she had on their lives. She taught in Washington and New Preston elementary schools and was a teaching-principal. Boots earned a Masters of Science Degree in Education from Western Connecticut State College. Boots and Bill moved to Wethersfield, CT where she taught in Berlin elementary schools. She was involved in Connecticut Education Association and NEA and was on the CEA Board of Directors. She played Lady Thiang in the Berlin Teacher’s Association performance of the King and I.

Labutius (Boots) and her husband Bill (Philo) were very involved in every church they attended, including Christ Church in Roxbury, CT, Danbury Baptist Church in CT, Wethersfield Evangelical Free Church in CT, and Berea Baptist Church in Palm Harbor, FL. She taught Sunday School and earned Evangelical Teacher Training Association credentials that allowed her to teach ETTA certified classes to other Sunday School teachers. She was a Sunday School Superintendent and Christian Education Director. She served as Pioneer Girls Chairman, New Education Building Bond Drive co-chairman, choir director, pianist, Women’s Missionary Society officer, youth leader, soloist, and choir member. They also were involved in Gideons.

Boots was involved in the communities they lived in. She was a Girl Scouts leader, in Garden Club, organized Junior Garden Club, and served on the Board of Education in Roxbury. When they retired to Palm Harbor, FL she was involved in Red Hats, Purple Ladies and with the Blue Jay Estates community. Boots sold Tupperware, Sarah Coventry Jewelry, Amway, and Successful Living Books. Bill and Boots hosted and entertained many people in their home, especially missionaries and housed young people from time to time. During retirement they travelled by RV to 49 states (48 states were visited 3 times) including a special trip to Alaska. They also vacationed in Hawaii making it all 50 states visited. They loved to travel and especially liked Bryce Canyon and the Grand Tetons. They also visited many islands and some European countries.

Boots was a friend to everyone. She showed unconditional love and total acceptance of others. She had the gift of encouragement and was loved by everyone who knew her. She loved to study the Bible and sing hymns. Boots looked forward to seeing Jesus face-to-face. She will be greatly missed.

The family appreciates the care by Kindred/Gentiva Hospice for Boots in her last months and by Osceola Memory Gardens for her body before sending her to CT.

The family will receive guests Monday, May 29th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Rose Hill Funeral Home, 580 Elm St., Rocky Hill, CT. A graveside service, open to the public, will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 30th at Center Cemetery, 34 North St, Roxbury, CT.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Gideons International, Jesus Project a part of Cru, or The Voice of the Martyrs.

Warmups  -  Detroit Red Wings  -  November  2018

This is probably gonna sound selfish buuuuuut I’d love to see more sports athletes here in the group and I am sure I am not alone here. I’m definitely also biased but would love more nfl players and nhl players as well like ja'marr chase, mike evans, sidney crosby, matthew tkachuk, steven stamkos!❤️

You heard our Camille Kostek. Bring us more athletes. Travis Kelce, Mason Mount, Trevor Lawrence, Patrick Mahomes, Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Tom Daley, Sebastian Aho and more would be so wanted.

hockey for all.

It is a dialogue Akim Aliu has been seeking to advance ever since the Blackhawks’ second-round pick revealed on Twitter that his coach in the minors, Bill Peters, had “dropped the N-bomb” on him during the ’09–10 season “because he didn’t like my choice of music”.

Aliu hoped his revelations would spark a long overdue reckoning for the white-as-ice hockey world and its shut-up-and-stick-handle culture.

As another season begins, Aliu believes the league is no closer to truly reckoning with its racial issues. And in the 14 months since his tweets, he’s grown more fed up than ever with the game that he continues to love, even if he hasn’t always felt that it loves him back. “It’s not hard to figure out our sport is suffering,” Aliu says. “Whatever the NHL is doing is clearly not working. It’s just posturing, window-washing, nonmeaningful half measures. That’s all it is.”

*

On Dec 5, 2019, at 3:38 p.m., Aliu sent the first message in a text thread that he titled, Hockey Diversity Committee. Initially composed of about 10 NHL players of color, within two days the chat swelled to 20-plus.

There was plenty to discuss. In the league’s 103-year existence, no team has employed a Black general manager. ...On-ice representation isn’t much more diverse. In addition to the 18 Black players who appeared in more than five games in 2019–20, the league counted just a handful more identifying as Asian (eight), Indigenous (six), Hispanic/Latino (four) or Arab/Middle Eastern (four).

“There’s that sense of loneliness we’ve all felt,” says Wild defenseman Matt Dumba, who is Filipino Canadian. “Who do you tell when you’re going through these things, besides your family? None of your teammates are going through it. And what am I going to say to a GM, an older white gentleman, who hasn’t seen the game the way I have?”

The forum that Aliu wanted, though, never materialized. Some players were spooked that he included his lawyers on calls and wondered whether he was trying to rally support for himself.

“I think guys were concerned with Akim wanting to sue,” says Trevor Daley, a defenseman who recently retired after 16 years in the NHL.

Other players voiced concerns about the career risk of speaking out... A few players dropped off the thread without explanation. “It was completely dead,” said Aliu.

*

The Hockey Diversity Alliance officially launched June 8, with... a message for the NHL: “We are hopeful that we will work productively with the league to accomplish these important changes.”

In response, the NHL invited the HDA to spell out its objectives in a virtual meeting in late June with Bettman and Kim Davis, who had been hired from a corporate advisory firm in 2017 to focus on diversity and inclusion. The players saw an opportunity to tell the commissioner about their encounters with racism in the sport.

Joel Ward spoke about being bombarded with racist tweets from Bruins fans after his Game 7 overtime goal for Washington eliminated Boston from the 2012 playoffs. Wayne Simmonds discussed having a banana thrown at him by a fan during a 2011 exhibition. Daley recounted how his then Ontario Hockey League coach John Vanbiesbrouck called him the n-word in 2003. (Vanbiesbrouck resigned shortly thereafter, acknowledging the slur. He is now an executive for USA Hockey.) Evander Kane described a fan yelling at him to go play basketball as he sat in the penalty box in Colorado during the 2019 playoffs. (Kane says he reported the incident to an on-ice official, but “there was zero follow-up” from the league. In the past, the NHL has said that the teams were aware, but the issue never reached the league office.)

As members began blasting Bettman for not doing more to prevent these incidents, the commissioner seemed to grow defensive. Citing various NHL diversity initiatives during his 27-year tenure, he then asked the players what they had done and where they had been in the fight against racism. He quickly backtracked, but the damage was done.

“I think he knew he had put his foot in his mouth,” Kane says. “Everyone on that call has done a lot of things on their own to grow the game within our own communities. A comment like that really rubbed guys the wrong way.” (Through a spokesperson, Bettman declined comment.)

On July 14, two weeks before the season restarted, the HDA presented Davis, Bettman and other league officials with a PowerPoint deck titled, Our Ask of the NHL. Much of the request focused on an eight-point “HDA pledge” that the coalition wanted the league to sign; items included specific hiring targets for Black personnel in league and team front offices (including 5% Black hockey-related personnel by the end of 2020–21) and funding of $100 million over the next decade (or just above $300,000 per team, per year) to back grassroots initiatives and other programming. The HDA also asked for various antiracism displays during the upcoming playoffs, such as changing the blue lines to black and painting the HDA logo on the ice. Kane recalls Davis and Bettman commending the presentation’s thoroughness. “I was hopeful,” Kane says.

But disappointment soon followed: The NHL built its postseason messaging campaign around a catch-all hashtag, #WeSkateFor, lumping the Black Lives Matter movement with the pandemic and other unrelated causes. “It’s like showing up to the breast cancer fundraiser and protesting that there’s other diseases, too,” Dumba says.

-Excerpts from The Fight Over Hockey’s Racial Reckoning by Alex Prewitt, 19 Jan 2021

If you read one thing today, let it be this