Some weeks ago, I wrote about Canada’s victory over the United States in the final game between Canada and the United States in the “best against best” hockey series. Wayne Gretzky had come under fire for stepping on the ice as honorary captain of Canada when he wasn’t wearing a Canadian jersey or anything like that. He also acknowledged, as he was entering onto the ice for the ceremonial opening faceoff, the hockey players on the American bench as he walked by it to centre ice. My take on it was that, while some Canadians didn’t like it, I gave Wayne a pass because he isn’t a diplomat. He is a retired hockey player, and he was just acknowledging a group of other hockey players.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I have changed by mind. I was wrong. The Great One is more than a retired player. He has become part of an American culture that has him hob-nobbing with Donald Trump and his “crowd”. It took a while for all of that to sink in with me, but it reached a turning point when I saw Wayne at a hockey game with Kash Patel. Patel is the newly minted director of the FBI, and he actually took an FBI jet to go to an NHL game. There is a picture of Kash and Wayne at a Capitals/Chicago hockey game together.

I am changing my vote on Wayne Gretzky. I have quickly grown tired of seeing his foot planted in the Trump camp. President Donald Trump has often referenced Wayne as sort of an old friend. Wayne Gretzky has become part of the Donald Trump entourage, and he did it by NOT taking a public stand. As the crisis between the United States and Canada grows and deepens my view has shifted. I don’t allow the posture of Wayne that says, “we are all friends here.” We aren’t.

Dante in The Divine Comedy is quoted often as saying “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.” I like the quote although there is some question as to whether or not Dante actually wrote it. It does not appear in any of his written works. It still gives us a glimpse at a kind of moral compass that I like. It sits well in the current situation.

The collision of sports and politics is sometimes jarring. I remember the Canada/ Russia series of 1972. It was more than sport. It was more than just two hockey teams. This year in the aftermath of the Canadian /American confrontation and our victory I found myself, like all Canadians, watching Alexander Ovechkin close in on Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record. Ovechkin is, of course, a proud Russian and an enthusiastic fan of Vladimir Putin. Wonder of wonders I was a bit pleased when ‘The Great 8’ passed ‘The Great One’.

I still haven’t completely worked all that out in my mind, but it is so. Politics makes strange bedfellows and it isn’t a great leap to get from being Wayne Gretsky’s biggest fan when he was an Oiler to being quietly for Alexander Ovechkin as he closed in on the NHL all-time scoring record.

That is today. Tomorrow is another day.

You can contact Jim Furlong at [email protected]