I know that over the last few years, hockey culture has been cast in a very negative light and deservingly so however, that isn’t why I am not here today, well sort of.
You see, hockey is a sport that I was very fortunate to grow up playing, plus I continue to play to this day, I had NHL aspirations but never got past house league lol. But that doesn’t mean I know about the game and have recognized that even though a lot of current NHL players have significant financial advantages in their journeys to the NHL with things like private after-practice coaching etc, it is still about the work ethic and character about that person and the drive to be great that truly makes it to the NHL, Connor McDavid was fortunate like this, so were the Hughes brothers and even new NHL star Connor Bedard was fortunate to have these circumstances.
Now enter Zach Hyman who is McDavid’s teammate and like him played in the GTHL at an AAA level growing up but had to take the harder path to get to the NHL as the 123rd pick in 2010 by Florida and 4 years of hockey at the University of Michigan and it took Mike Babcock, who I know isn’t well liked and deservingly so, but he saw that Zach had the potential and that turned him from a bottom tier guy to a man who has gone to Edmonton and signed a 7 year 38.5 million dollar contract. On Sunday Zach scored 50 goals which has only 205 people have done in the 100+ history of the NHL, elite.
The newest member of the 50-goal club! https://t.co/2pOHHlPtKa pic.twitter.com/5f7etck7MR
— NHL (@NHL) March 24, 2024
However, a “hockey reporter” whose video went viral on Tuesday on twitter, decided to make Hyman’s unbelievable accomplishment into a he’s only there because of his parents, which mixed in with Hymans jewish heritage was a very inappropriate thing to say/ bring up. Now like I said before, quite a few NHLers have had a financial advantage growing u because mom and dad happen to be well off, but to come out and say that is the soul reason that Zach Hyman is where he is, honestly is a very misguided take that ignores the hard work and hard journey that Zach took to get where he is today, not only as an NHL player, but a man as well. As a middle finger to that person, Hyman did this Tuesday in Winnipeg.
ZACH HYMAN CALLED GAME 🗣️
Goal #51 for him is the OT winner. pic.twitter.com/OBPPWjz5Os
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 27, 2024
The NHL community online came to Zach’s defence with the following tweets before and after the OT winner in Winnipeg.
Ahahahahahahahahaha Zach Hyman gets the OT winner
Ahahahahahahaha 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Only a man of serious privilege could have scored there 🙏💰 pic.twitter.com/5ayx81rRKl
— Jesse Pollock (@jpolly22) March 27, 2024
51 for Hyman, the OT winner against Winnipeg. Amazing what hard work can get you
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 27, 2024
Encouraged to see how many commenters are coming to Zach Hyman's defence here. Any attempt to diminish his accomplishment and/or the undeniable amount of work that went into it because of his family's wealth is truly missing the forest for the trees. https://t.co/9CFoJymKjR
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 26, 2024
Analyzing the financial situation that players grew up in to put an asterix next to their accomplishments is a slippery slope and shouldn’t be done. Hockey is not like F1. Hyman was a 5th round pick who worked hard to get to where he is. Nothing more to say.
— Phylippe Bernard (@PhylBernard) March 26, 2024
As I wrap up this piece, I wanted to end with I know that hockey culture isn’t at it’s best right now and some of that may never sadly change, but throughout the negativity that comes through, sometimes a light can shine like how a lot of folks in the hockey community came to the defence of one of their own, regardless of it they played, cover or are a fan of the game that we graciously call Canada’s game. I will end by saying Congrats on 50 Zach.
Griff Bordignon
Hi, my name is Griff and I'm a complete sports nut. I love to play sports, watch sports and most importantly bet on sports too. If I'm not watching or betting on sports, you can find me on the golf course, between the pipes as your average beer league goaltender. Although sports take up most of my life, I also love spending time with my two dogs, streaming usually a 90's Simpson's or attempting to read more books.