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We Breed Lions: Confronting Canada's Troubled Hockey Culture
A hard-hitting and powerful look at hockey's moment of reckoning in Canada, and the ways in which a game that is so universally loved has been rocked in recent years by court cases involving sexual assault and startling incidents of hazing and abuse throughout junior hockey.
The allegations read like a scene out of a horror movie.
Five National Hockey League players, all of them 18 to 20-year-old Canada World Juniors at the time, were alleged to have sexually assaulted a young woman in a London, Ontario, hotel room in June 2018 over several hours. When the players learned that the alleged victim had reported the incident to the police, they allegedly coerced her to drop the complaint and colluded to make sure their stories lined up. Hockey Canada kept the details of the case out of the spotlight and came to a confidential financial settlement with the plaintiff, paid out of a secret slush fund worth millions of dollars that the organization kept on hand to settle such complaints quietly.
On May 26, 2022, TSN investigative reporter Rick Westhead broke the story surrounding the Team Canada junior players and Hockey Canada's handling of the case, immediately sending shock waves throughout all levels of the hockey world. Charges of sexual assault were made against the players; all of whom entered pleas of not guilty. Once the story went live on the TSN website, Westhead's inbox on X filled with messages from people who wanted to share their personal stories on how they had been impacted by hockey's toxic culture.
For over three years the story ignited an enormous amount of debate and discussion across the country. Even after the players were acquitted of all charges in July, 2025, the conversation about how broken the national game had become only intensified.
In We Breed Lions, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Rick Westhead does a deep-dive into the state of hockey in Canada today. He gives voice to those who have been sexually assaulted by hockey players, revealing the struggles they've had with local police officials in their efforts to seek justice. He also goes inside the dressing room to find out how attitudes of misogyny and homophobia continue to flourish, and speaks to former players who were forced to perform degrading acts of initiation in order to “be one of the guys.”
Looming large in Westhead's extraordinary reporting are the gatekeepers of the game—league officials, team owners and members of the sport's governing bodies—who are reluctant to impose change from the outside and willing to sacrifice the well-being of their players and the community for profit.
Westhead offers hope for hockey's future, profiling those individuals and organizations who are committed to educating players around issues of consent, putting an end to hazing and redefining what it means to be a man on and off the ice. Featuring a Foreword by bestselling author Stephen Brunt, We Breed Lions is must-reading for parents, players and all of those who love the game of hockey and want to see it get to a better place.
The allegations read like a scene out of a horror movie.
Five National Hockey League players, all of them 18 to 20-year-old Canada World Juniors at the time, were alleged to have sexually assaulted a young woman in a London, Ontario, hotel room in June 2018 over several hours. When the players learned that the alleged victim had reported the incident to the police, they allegedly coerced her to drop the complaint and colluded to make sure their stories lined up. Hockey Canada kept the details of the case out of the spotlight and came to a confidential financial settlement with the plaintiff, paid out of a secret slush fund worth millions of dollars that the organization kept on hand to settle such complaints quietly.
On May 26, 2022, TSN investigative reporter Rick Westhead broke the story surrounding the Team Canada junior players and Hockey Canada's handling of the case, immediately sending shock waves throughout all levels of the hockey world. Charges of sexual assault were made against the players; all of whom entered pleas of not guilty. Once the story went live on the TSN website, Westhead's inbox on X filled with messages from people who wanted to share their personal stories on how they had been impacted by hockey's toxic culture.
For over three years the story ignited an enormous amount of debate and discussion across the country. Even after the players were acquitted of all charges in July, 2025, the conversation about how broken the national game had become only intensified.
In We Breed Lions, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Rick Westhead does a deep-dive into the state of hockey in Canada today. He gives voice to those who have been sexually assaulted by hockey players, revealing the struggles they've had with local police officials in their efforts to seek justice. He also goes inside the dressing room to find out how attitudes of misogyny and homophobia continue to flourish, and speaks to former players who were forced to perform degrading acts of initiation in order to “be one of the guys.”
Looming large in Westhead's extraordinary reporting are the gatekeepers of the game—league officials, team owners and members of the sport's governing bodies—who are reluctant to impose change from the outside and willing to sacrifice the well-being of their players and the community for profit.
Westhead offers hope for hockey's future, profiling those individuals and organizations who are committed to educating players around issues of consent, putting an end to hazing and redefining what it means to be a man on and off the ice. Featuring a Foreword by bestselling author Stephen Brunt, We Breed Lions is must-reading for parents, players and all of those who love the game of hockey and want to see it get to a better place.
407 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 4, 2025
262 people are currently reading
1827 people want to read
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December 19, 2025
every hockey fan should read this, if they can stomach it. it’s one of the more nauseating reads i’ve ever experienced.
also fuck the vegas golden knights and fuck carter hart. it’s abhorrent that all of this is out in the open and carter hart is playing in the fucking nhl
also fuck the vegas golden knights and fuck carter hart. it’s abhorrent that all of this is out in the open and carter hart is playing in the fucking nhl
November 25, 2025
I'm just going start off by saying this is going to be a long one, so I'll sum it up quick and easy so you can skip if you don't want to full breakdown:
Simply one of the most thoughtful, heavy and emotional books I've read in a very long time. Well structed, written, thoughtout and researched. There are a number of paintful stories that Rick handled with care and I greatly respect both Rick and everyone who sat down to openly share their experiences.
Now that the summary is out of the way...
“You can love a sport and also recognize aspects that need to change.”
I sat with this quote long after I finished the book, I think it's because that’s exactly what this book demands of the reader: to sit with discomfort, to examine what has long been ignored, and to love hockey enough to want better for the game and the players we watch on a nightly basis.
As someone who spent my formative years in Kitchener and London (two OHL cities steeped in junior hockey culture) this book struck closer than I was prepared for. I’ve been to those bars, seen those athletes, I know the stories, and I have some of my own. I think, thanks to Rick's unflinching journalism, the pattern is impossible to unsee and hopefully impossible to ignore.
This isn't just a hockey book, or a sports book, it's so much deeper. It’s a book about culture: the culture of silence, of privilege, of commodifying teenage boys and excusing violence, and general bad behaviour, in the name of winning. It's a book about the cracks in the systems that are supposed to help kids learn to work together, as a team, but also exposes the locker room code, the silence that shields hazing, abuse, and off ice assault.
“Here’s the situation: there’s alcohol, there are players who are sixteen mixing with players who are twenty, often with no supervision, and they all have been told they are elite. Bad things happen between players, bad things happen with women. It’s a part of the game’s culture. But we don’t want to know. It’s uncomfortable. We just want to enjoy the game.”
— Adam Bennett, former NHL player
This quote really highlights another very important theme throughout the; discomfort. Parents, coaches, officials all turning the other way as bad things are happening because they want to avoid having uncomfortable conversations. It's also an indictment of the fan base who doesn't care about anything as long as their team is winning. There are so many documented cases of players who knew what they were doing was wrong, but didn't say anything, didn't do anything so as not to rock the boat, or be seen a a "snitch", or even become the brunt of abuse themselves. Take a look at Kyle's Beach's case, everyone knew and no one said anything because there was a cup on the line. Look at Brett Howden who told investigators he heard EM crying and chose to leave instead of speaking up.
“The CHL, E.M.’s lawyer and the London police all seemed to consider the matter closed. Except it wasn’t for me." I would say there’s bravery in Rick's kind of reporting. Since Rick broke the 2018 Hockey Canada Sexual assault case back in 2022, he has faced a lot of backlash, been called a “sellout” and a “loser” for choosing to spotlight what many in the sport want buried. He covers stories most sports journalists won’t touch (including Kyle Beach's story which is well documented), because they're “bad for the brand.” But what he shows is that the brand was already broken, and broken at so many levels. Talent does not absolve anyone of wrongdoing.
From the horrifying details of the hazing of rookie players by older vets, to the CHL’s efforts to avoid treating their players as employees, this book forces a reckoning, and one that's been building for a long time. When Hockey Canada was summond to testify with regards to the money from player registation fees was being used to fund various sexual assault settlements, they were called out by then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, suggesting the Hockey Canada needed to be gutted a rebuilt. While it's gone through changes since it still has a very long way to go, as does our legal and justice systems (as evidence by the lack of investigation in the 2018 Hockey Canada Sexual assault case that was utterly botched by London Police Services).
“The best young hockey players leave their homes at fifteen and sixteen years of age to become assets for for-profit junior teams who refer to them as ‘student athletes’ in order to avoid paying them the minimum provincial wage.”
These boys and young men aren’t just athletes, they’re human beings caught in a machine that too often sees them as commodities first, people second. From the horrifying stories of injuries sustained on the ice, only to discover that insurance has run out to drug dependancies due to improper care and monitoring. There is a gross lack of support in all the various leagues from the juniors to the pros.
“This is a story about hockey’s culture… a story about how bonds are best created through the sharing of secrets. And it’s a story about privilege… because their role as elite hockey players means that the societal norms others are expected to follow do not apply to them.”
This book left me gutted. But also grateful. Because shining a light into the darkest corners is the first step toward change. I'm also very happy to learn about various training programs that have been created to help junior players learn about abuse, consent and rape myths, but there is still so much to be done and I hope more leagues and more teams start implementing these types of training, as I think Rick does a great job of highlighting the benefits and evidence showing that it actually helps create team moral to break down toxic masculinity.
If you love hockey, if you have kids in hockey, if you know someone who is in hockey, or if you're simply curious about the psychology of team mentality, I suggest picking up this book. It's not meant to destroy the game, but to fight for something better. For the next generation. For the victims. For the kids still in the system who are being told to “man up” and stay silent.
Because no game is worth this kind of pain. I'd like to thank Rick for this breakdown of events and incidents beyond the ice, like I said before, I find this very brave, especially given Vegas Golden Knight's recently banning a reporter for asking some difficult questions, something which obviously goes much deeper than the game.
An important note, at the time of this review there are currently more than half a dozen known cases of hazing, bully and sexual assaults that are currently being investigated. The NHL is the only major sports league that, while it has a "morality" clause about not bringing damage to the league or it's reputation, does not have a special clause about off ice violence. Just another reason this book is so important.
Simply one of the most thoughtful, heavy and emotional books I've read in a very long time. Well structed, written, thoughtout and researched. There are a number of paintful stories that Rick handled with care and I greatly respect both Rick and everyone who sat down to openly share their experiences.
Now that the summary is out of the way...
“You can love a sport and also recognize aspects that need to change.”
I sat with this quote long after I finished the book, I think it's because that’s exactly what this book demands of the reader: to sit with discomfort, to examine what has long been ignored, and to love hockey enough to want better for the game and the players we watch on a nightly basis.
As someone who spent my formative years in Kitchener and London (two OHL cities steeped in junior hockey culture) this book struck closer than I was prepared for. I’ve been to those bars, seen those athletes, I know the stories, and I have some of my own. I think, thanks to Rick's unflinching journalism, the pattern is impossible to unsee and hopefully impossible to ignore.
This isn't just a hockey book, or a sports book, it's so much deeper. It’s a book about culture: the culture of silence, of privilege, of commodifying teenage boys and excusing violence, and general bad behaviour, in the name of winning. It's a book about the cracks in the systems that are supposed to help kids learn to work together, as a team, but also exposes the locker room code, the silence that shields hazing, abuse, and off ice assault.
“Here’s the situation: there’s alcohol, there are players who are sixteen mixing with players who are twenty, often with no supervision, and they all have been told they are elite. Bad things happen between players, bad things happen with women. It’s a part of the game’s culture. But we don’t want to know. It’s uncomfortable. We just want to enjoy the game.”
— Adam Bennett, former NHL player
This quote really highlights another very important theme throughout the; discomfort. Parents, coaches, officials all turning the other way as bad things are happening because they want to avoid having uncomfortable conversations. It's also an indictment of the fan base who doesn't care about anything as long as their team is winning. There are so many documented cases of players who knew what they were doing was wrong, but didn't say anything, didn't do anything so as not to rock the boat, or be seen a a "snitch", or even become the brunt of abuse themselves. Take a look at Kyle's Beach's case, everyone knew and no one said anything because there was a cup on the line. Look at Brett Howden who told investigators he heard EM crying and chose to leave instead of speaking up.
“The CHL, E.M.’s lawyer and the London police all seemed to consider the matter closed. Except it wasn’t for me." I would say there’s bravery in Rick's kind of reporting. Since Rick broke the 2018 Hockey Canada Sexual assault case back in 2022, he has faced a lot of backlash, been called a “sellout” and a “loser” for choosing to spotlight what many in the sport want buried. He covers stories most sports journalists won’t touch (including Kyle Beach's story which is well documented), because they're “bad for the brand.” But what he shows is that the brand was already broken, and broken at so many levels. Talent does not absolve anyone of wrongdoing.
From the horrifying details of the hazing of rookie players by older vets, to the CHL’s efforts to avoid treating their players as employees, this book forces a reckoning, and one that's been building for a long time. When Hockey Canada was summond to testify with regards to the money from player registation fees was being used to fund various sexual assault settlements, they were called out by then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, suggesting the Hockey Canada needed to be gutted a rebuilt. While it's gone through changes since it still has a very long way to go, as does our legal and justice systems (as evidence by the lack of investigation in the 2018 Hockey Canada Sexual assault case that was utterly botched by London Police Services).
“The best young hockey players leave their homes at fifteen and sixteen years of age to become assets for for-profit junior teams who refer to them as ‘student athletes’ in order to avoid paying them the minimum provincial wage.”
These boys and young men aren’t just athletes, they’re human beings caught in a machine that too often sees them as commodities first, people second. From the horrifying stories of injuries sustained on the ice, only to discover that insurance has run out to drug dependancies due to improper care and monitoring. There is a gross lack of support in all the various leagues from the juniors to the pros.
“This is a story about hockey’s culture… a story about how bonds are best created through the sharing of secrets. And it’s a story about privilege… because their role as elite hockey players means that the societal norms others are expected to follow do not apply to them.”
This book left me gutted. But also grateful. Because shining a light into the darkest corners is the first step toward change. I'm also very happy to learn about various training programs that have been created to help junior players learn about abuse, consent and rape myths, but there is still so much to be done and I hope more leagues and more teams start implementing these types of training, as I think Rick does a great job of highlighting the benefits and evidence showing that it actually helps create team moral to break down toxic masculinity.
If you love hockey, if you have kids in hockey, if you know someone who is in hockey, or if you're simply curious about the psychology of team mentality, I suggest picking up this book. It's not meant to destroy the game, but to fight for something better. For the next generation. For the victims. For the kids still in the system who are being told to “man up” and stay silent.
Because no game is worth this kind of pain. I'd like to thank Rick for this breakdown of events and incidents beyond the ice, like I said before, I find this very brave, especially given Vegas Golden Knight's recently banning a reporter for asking some difficult questions, something which obviously goes much deeper than the game.
An important note, at the time of this review there are currently more than half a dozen known cases of hazing, bully and sexual assaults that are currently being investigated. The NHL is the only major sports league that, while it has a "morality" clause about not bringing damage to the league or it's reputation, does not have a special clause about off ice violence. Just another reason this book is so important.
January 2, 2026
Ļoti labs līdzlasāmais visām miljons hokeja romantikas grāmatām. Īpaši par piselīgajiem koledžas džekiem.
Īsumā - arī perfektajai Kanādai lobās tapetes un aiz tām dzīvo tarakāni. Grāmatā apskatītas smagākās Kanādas hokeja problēmas - dzimumnoziegumi, pazemošana, varmācīgi treneri, vispārēja klusēšana par piedzīvoto. Grāmatas katalizators bija ts Filthy Five tiesas prāva, bet parādīti arī daudzi citi gadījumi.
Ļoti gribētu zināt, kāds stāvoklis ir Latvijā, vai džeki jūtas tikpat priviliģēti un tik apjukuši, ka vairs neatšķir normālu uzvedību no kriminālas un pieaugušie viņiem to ļauj.
Ja interesē sports, īpaši hokejs, ļoti iesaku, jo materiāls ir profesionāls un pamatīgs.
Īsumā - arī perfektajai Kanādai lobās tapetes un aiz tām dzīvo tarakāni. Grāmatā apskatītas smagākās Kanādas hokeja problēmas - dzimumnoziegumi, pazemošana, varmācīgi treneri, vispārēja klusēšana par piedzīvoto. Grāmatas katalizators bija ts Filthy Five tiesas prāva, bet parādīti arī daudzi citi gadījumi.
Ļoti gribētu zināt, kāds stāvoklis ir Latvijā, vai džeki jūtas tikpat priviliģēti un tik apjukuši, ka vairs neatšķir normālu uzvedību no kriminālas un pieaugušie viņiem to ļauj.
Ja interesē sports, īpaši hokejs, ļoti iesaku, jo materiāls ir profesionāls un pamatīgs.
Read
November 6, 2025tough, heavy read but extremely important
January 9, 2026
CW: all the things, truly, yikes
Holy shit. This book was so good, yet so, so hard to read. I’ve loved hockey for a long time, played as a kid, am playing again now, and I’ve known that there are issues, I’ve experienced and witness things, but reading this book made me realize that it’s so much worse than I had ever thought.
The normalization and *promotion* of rape culture and homophobia is so ingrained in the sport that it would take a huge effort to fix things. It needs to be fixed, but after reading this book it feels like it’s such a huge mountain to climb. Especially when we know that hazing is banned, yet it still happens, right under the noses (sometimes with the active knowledge) of the coaching staff. I feel so bad for the young people playing junior hockey (all levels) and having this sort of abuse normalized. Because hazing is abuse.
The writing of this book was prompted by the sexual assault charges filed against the five Canadian junior hockey players (who were acquitted, which is infuriating), so it’s very timely. It’s an excellent piece of investigative journalism.
As I said, I’ve played hockey, been around hockey, but I never played rep or anything above regular minor hockey. And I do think that the experience in women’s hockey would be vastly different. But I mostly played on boys’ teams and it was mostly okay. Though there was one year that the coach wouldn’t let me get changed in the dressing room with the rest of the team. I think that at the time I was 14? Everyone was usually wearing full long johns under their gear, so what was the coach worried about? After reading this book, it makes me reconsider this.
I was talking to someone who went to school with Sidney Crosby, and she was saying that she didn’t like him, because he showed up to a house party that she was at and announced “who wants to suck the dick of the first overall draft pick?!?”. I have never liked him since hearing this. But having read this book, it kind of makes sense? I’m not forgiving that gross behaviour, but with the way women are treated and thought of within higher levels of hockey, it’s not surprising.
Westhead also did a deep dive into rep hockey at lower levels, and I find it absolutely wild the amount of corruption happening there. When parents are spending $70k A YEAR on hockey for their kid, bribing coaches, it all adds to this inflated sense of superiority, which in turn leads to truly awful behaviour at the junior level.
I feel like I could talk about this book a lot more.
I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in hockey or is a fan, has played hockey, etc. It is so eye-opening and horrifying, but an absolutely crucial read.
Holy shit. This book was so good, yet so, so hard to read. I’ve loved hockey for a long time, played as a kid, am playing again now, and I’ve known that there are issues, I’ve experienced and witness things, but reading this book made me realize that it’s so much worse than I had ever thought.
The normalization and *promotion* of rape culture and homophobia is so ingrained in the sport that it would take a huge effort to fix things. It needs to be fixed, but after reading this book it feels like it’s such a huge mountain to climb. Especially when we know that hazing is banned, yet it still happens, right under the noses (sometimes with the active knowledge) of the coaching staff. I feel so bad for the young people playing junior hockey (all levels) and having this sort of abuse normalized. Because hazing is abuse.
The writing of this book was prompted by the sexual assault charges filed against the five Canadian junior hockey players (who were acquitted, which is infuriating), so it’s very timely. It’s an excellent piece of investigative journalism.
As I said, I’ve played hockey, been around hockey, but I never played rep or anything above regular minor hockey. And I do think that the experience in women’s hockey would be vastly different. But I mostly played on boys’ teams and it was mostly okay. Though there was one year that the coach wouldn’t let me get changed in the dressing room with the rest of the team. I think that at the time I was 14? Everyone was usually wearing full long johns under their gear, so what was the coach worried about? After reading this book, it makes me reconsider this.
I was talking to someone who went to school with Sidney Crosby, and she was saying that she didn’t like him, because he showed up to a house party that she was at and announced “who wants to suck the dick of the first overall draft pick?!?”. I have never liked him since hearing this. But having read this book, it kind of makes sense? I’m not forgiving that gross behaviour, but with the way women are treated and thought of within higher levels of hockey, it’s not surprising.
Westhead also did a deep dive into rep hockey at lower levels, and I find it absolutely wild the amount of corruption happening there. When parents are spending $70k A YEAR on hockey for their kid, bribing coaches, it all adds to this inflated sense of superiority, which in turn leads to truly awful behaviour at the junior level.
I feel like I could talk about this book a lot more.
I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in hockey or is a fan, has played hockey, etc. It is so eye-opening and horrifying, but an absolutely crucial read.
January 7, 2026
My gut sank when the Vegas Golden Knights signed Carter Hart. Somehow, the NHL and the NHL Player’s Association reached a decision to reinstate the former Philadelphia Flyers goalie. In a statement released in October of 2025, VGK said that the organization was aligned with the decision made by NHL and NHLPA, that VGK “remains committed to core values that define their organization” and “expect players to continue to meet these standards moving forward.” At the time, I had only cursory knowledge of what transpired in that London, Ontario hotel room and how the trial in July of 2025 proceeded.
Did you know there were 10 players in the room when E.M. endured group sex assault? Did you know former New Jersey Devil, Michael McLeod, took multiple videos of E.M. coaching her to say it was consensual after she cried and couldn’t get out of that room? Did you know the players had a group text about the incident to get their stories straight?
I became a casual hockey fan in 2017 when the Las Vegas expansion team arrived. I grew up thinking my hometown didn’t have any sports teams to rally behind. We had a minor league baseball team, 51’s (now called The Aviators) and the Aces of WNBA (a sport and a team I have repeatedly overlooked for no good reason). The Vegas Golden Knights were new and exciting. They were a team of misfits released from their teams, not meant to really compete in those first few years. Then the Las Vegas mass shooting in October 2017 happened, and VGK was there to champion a new motto of resilience, “Vegas Born, Vegas Strong.” The team made a historical run for the cup in their inaugural season. The excitement was palpable. Now a city had a team to root for, finally! Again, I’m sorry Las Vegas Aces. My aunt is a diehard VGK fan, the biggest hockey fan I know, period. I started watching more to connect with her. In grad school, my best friend and I began watching NHL games on TV. She’s a Minnesota native (duh). New waves of excitement came for the sport - the VGK Stanley Cup in 2023, the creation of the PWHL, the Arizona Coyotes’ move to Utah - suddenly hockey was huge in my life! I was reading Beartown and looking up terms to understand the sport better. Yes, I was reading Heated Rivalry. I was going ice skating at my local rink. I’ve been a devoted fan of hockey for a few years now. It’s become an obsession. It’s thrilling to watch plays unfold, see the passing opportunities before they happen or when they’re missed, marvel at the skill involved to stick handle a puck along the boards, and cheer as loud as I can when a goalie makes that impossible save. I can’t believe less than 10 years ago, I was googling “hockey icing” and “offside hockey” basically every game, but I was! And now this team that I love, in this sport that I love, has made some decisions that baffle me. How a player like Hart was reinstated confused me. Learning VGK signed him began to break me.
I sought out Rick Westhead’s book because somewhere in my growth as a fan of the sport, I missed a whole lot of history. Men’s hockey, like many other men’s team sports, suffers from multiple problems - violence, hazing, misogyny, racism, homophobia, corruption. I grew up in a baseball house. I knew the history of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, the All-American Girls Baseball League, Jackie Robinson, the Steroid Era. This was all explained to me at some point or other since I was a kid. I came to hockey very late. It feels harder to become a fan of a sport you didn’t grow up with. I still think the majority of baseball fans became fans when they were small children. Any critic who calls the sport slow or boring is an outsider. They just don’t get it. As a new fan of hockey, I feel like an outsider. Hell, I’ve been watching for almost 10 years and I still call myself a “new” fan.
Hockey culture runs deep, and the thing is, I’ve missed a lot of it. I’ve been in the dark. I really had no idea that major junior hockey was such a massive staple in Canadian culture. These boys who are still growing up, still learning how to be good people, are thrust into spotlight and placed on pedestals. Most of the time, they come from well off families with overbearing parents and less accountable for their own actions than most other kids their age. Hockey protects its own. Unfortunately, there is a long history of sexual violence in the sport. I didn’t know that there was a slush fund to quietly settle sexual assault claims. I want to shake the shoulders of every hockey fan and ask them, “DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?” It’s alarming how little I knew about this and deeply unsettling how similar this is to the sexual abuse history of the Catholic Church. There were multiple times while reading this book that I had to set it down, to take a deep breath, and close my eyes tight. I couldn’t believe some of the harrowing details I was reading. I felt nauseous and dreadful. How could these teams, the men in these brotherhoods, have so little respect for each other that they would participate in barbaric hazing rituals because that’s how it’s always been? That’s part of the truth, isn’t it? Sometimes the unsatisfying answer is because that’s just how it’s always been. Around page 240, I wondered to myself, “If this is how they treat each other, their own ‘brothers in arms’, then what does that say about how they treat women, who it seems there is even less reason to respect?” A few pages later, Westhead echoed something similar, “If players are conditioned by a world of rigid rites of passage and objectifying one another, might that shape the way some rising stars perceive and treat young women?”
What are the core values of the Vegas Golden Knights? What are the core values of the National Hockey League? What is left when core values are swept aside?
Brett Howden plays for Vegas. He was in the hotel room when E.M. was assaulted during group sex in 2018. He was never charged but testified in court. There are text messages of him referencing a violent slap (which is seen a video clip played in court) from one of the sexual assaulters in a big group chat with all 10 (that’s right, 10!) of the players who were in that hotel room. “Dude, I’m so happy I left when all the shit went down… Haha. Man, when I was leaving, Duber was smacking this girl’s ass so hard. Like, it looked like it hurt so bad” - text message from Howden who doesn’t remember sending the text nor the slap. The defense ensured these texts among others could not be admitted into evidence since it was personal communication with a confidante and not official testimony. In September 2022, he told Hockey Canada’s lawyer about the slap, among other details. In court, he didn’t remember. In the group text, the players who were present during the assault discuss how it’s important they get their story straight so none are caught in a lie. In court, Howden cried when his wife and daughter were mentioned. Carter Hart was the only defendant to testify in his own defense. He also suffered great amnesia about the events despite texts, video, and transcript of questioning from years prior on the contrary. E.M. was cross examined for several days by all 5 defendant’s teams of lawyers. Alex Formenton’s lawyer referred to E.M. as “sober E.M.” and “fun E.M.” She asked him to stop using those terms to describe her (describing the woman who was assaulted as “fun E.M.” is demeaning and frankly disgusting). The lawyer ignored her, and the judge did nothing. E.M.’s team did not raise complaint with some of the questions because they felt while the questioning was sometimes out of line that making so many objections would reflect negatively in the jury’s eyes and may be interpreted as attempts to slow down the trial process. In the end, that wouldn’t matter. There was a mistrial with the first jury when a defendant’s lawyer made inappropriate comments to a jury member during a lunch. The second jury complained to the judge about inappropriate behavior from the defendants’ lawyers, snickering about and belittling the jury members. The trial was eventually moved to a judge-only decision to prevent E.M. from going through the entire grueling process of cross examination yet again. All five defendants were acquitted.
I felt sick to my stomach reading this book. I also felt a sense of grief. Most nights, I unwind with a hockey game. This sport has been a comfort for me and an immense source of joy at times. There is so much talent in the league. These teams are full of emotional players who care about their team, who want to win as a team, who take it hard when they lose as a team. I do think that at the core of sport, there is love. Love for the game, love for the people you play it with, love for the fans who support you, love for the mentors who introduced you to the game. How can you not be romantic about hockey? About baseball? About football? About track? About gymnastics? About tennis? About F1? Sure, even about cornhole? I think we all need more romance in our lives. Sports give that to me. Sports also bring great heartache and dark days.
I think more eyes are on the NHL than ever. New fans are making their way to the sport every day. With more visibility, I hope there is more accountability. Eventually, it will be too hard to let down so many fans, right? NHL runs advertisements about how the next golden era of hockey is here. I hope that’s true. It feels like it’s true. I think we are upon some great generational change. I hope there are young kids today learning hockey and learning the core values that all kind human beings share - open-mindedness, no tolerance for bullying, respect for one another, and vulnerability. I hope in my lifetime, there will be NHL stars who never felt like the team bus was a cage or like a team gathering was a high stakes test. I hope fans can feel dignified when they talk about their favorite players and their favorite teams. I hope VGK can do better. I hope growing the sport also means growth in that soul-deep way.
I hope the Wild makes it past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I hope the Frost win their 3rd Walter Cup. I hope I watch more Aces basketball games.
I hope all fans of hockey read this book.
Did you know there were 10 players in the room when E.M. endured group sex assault? Did you know former New Jersey Devil, Michael McLeod, took multiple videos of E.M. coaching her to say it was consensual after she cried and couldn’t get out of that room? Did you know the players had a group text about the incident to get their stories straight?
I became a casual hockey fan in 2017 when the Las Vegas expansion team arrived. I grew up thinking my hometown didn’t have any sports teams to rally behind. We had a minor league baseball team, 51’s (now called The Aviators) and the Aces of WNBA (a sport and a team I have repeatedly overlooked for no good reason). The Vegas Golden Knights were new and exciting. They were a team of misfits released from their teams, not meant to really compete in those first few years. Then the Las Vegas mass shooting in October 2017 happened, and VGK was there to champion a new motto of resilience, “Vegas Born, Vegas Strong.” The team made a historical run for the cup in their inaugural season. The excitement was palpable. Now a city had a team to root for, finally! Again, I’m sorry Las Vegas Aces. My aunt is a diehard VGK fan, the biggest hockey fan I know, period. I started watching more to connect with her. In grad school, my best friend and I began watching NHL games on TV. She’s a Minnesota native (duh). New waves of excitement came for the sport - the VGK Stanley Cup in 2023, the creation of the PWHL, the Arizona Coyotes’ move to Utah - suddenly hockey was huge in my life! I was reading Beartown and looking up terms to understand the sport better. Yes, I was reading Heated Rivalry. I was going ice skating at my local rink. I’ve been a devoted fan of hockey for a few years now. It’s become an obsession. It’s thrilling to watch plays unfold, see the passing opportunities before they happen or when they’re missed, marvel at the skill involved to stick handle a puck along the boards, and cheer as loud as I can when a goalie makes that impossible save. I can’t believe less than 10 years ago, I was googling “hockey icing” and “offside hockey” basically every game, but I was! And now this team that I love, in this sport that I love, has made some decisions that baffle me. How a player like Hart was reinstated confused me. Learning VGK signed him began to break me.
I sought out Rick Westhead’s book because somewhere in my growth as a fan of the sport, I missed a whole lot of history. Men’s hockey, like many other men’s team sports, suffers from multiple problems - violence, hazing, misogyny, racism, homophobia, corruption. I grew up in a baseball house. I knew the history of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, the All-American Girls Baseball League, Jackie Robinson, the Steroid Era. This was all explained to me at some point or other since I was a kid. I came to hockey very late. It feels harder to become a fan of a sport you didn’t grow up with. I still think the majority of baseball fans became fans when they were small children. Any critic who calls the sport slow or boring is an outsider. They just don’t get it. As a new fan of hockey, I feel like an outsider. Hell, I’ve been watching for almost 10 years and I still call myself a “new” fan.
Hockey culture runs deep, and the thing is, I’ve missed a lot of it. I’ve been in the dark. I really had no idea that major junior hockey was such a massive staple in Canadian culture. These boys who are still growing up, still learning how to be good people, are thrust into spotlight and placed on pedestals. Most of the time, they come from well off families with overbearing parents and less accountable for their own actions than most other kids their age. Hockey protects its own. Unfortunately, there is a long history of sexual violence in the sport. I didn’t know that there was a slush fund to quietly settle sexual assault claims. I want to shake the shoulders of every hockey fan and ask them, “DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?” It’s alarming how little I knew about this and deeply unsettling how similar this is to the sexual abuse history of the Catholic Church. There were multiple times while reading this book that I had to set it down, to take a deep breath, and close my eyes tight. I couldn’t believe some of the harrowing details I was reading. I felt nauseous and dreadful. How could these teams, the men in these brotherhoods, have so little respect for each other that they would participate in barbaric hazing rituals because that’s how it’s always been? That’s part of the truth, isn’t it? Sometimes the unsatisfying answer is because that’s just how it’s always been. Around page 240, I wondered to myself, “If this is how they treat each other, their own ‘brothers in arms’, then what does that say about how they treat women, who it seems there is even less reason to respect?” A few pages later, Westhead echoed something similar, “If players are conditioned by a world of rigid rites of passage and objectifying one another, might that shape the way some rising stars perceive and treat young women?”
What are the core values of the Vegas Golden Knights? What are the core values of the National Hockey League? What is left when core values are swept aside?
Brett Howden plays for Vegas. He was in the hotel room when E.M. was assaulted during group sex in 2018. He was never charged but testified in court. There are text messages of him referencing a violent slap (which is seen a video clip played in court) from one of the sexual assaulters in a big group chat with all 10 (that’s right, 10!) of the players who were in that hotel room. “Dude, I’m so happy I left when all the shit went down… Haha. Man, when I was leaving, Duber was smacking this girl’s ass so hard. Like, it looked like it hurt so bad” - text message from Howden who doesn’t remember sending the text nor the slap. The defense ensured these texts among others could not be admitted into evidence since it was personal communication with a confidante and not official testimony. In September 2022, he told Hockey Canada’s lawyer about the slap, among other details. In court, he didn’t remember. In the group text, the players who were present during the assault discuss how it’s important they get their story straight so none are caught in a lie. In court, Howden cried when his wife and daughter were mentioned. Carter Hart was the only defendant to testify in his own defense. He also suffered great amnesia about the events despite texts, video, and transcript of questioning from years prior on the contrary. E.M. was cross examined for several days by all 5 defendant’s teams of lawyers. Alex Formenton’s lawyer referred to E.M. as “sober E.M.” and “fun E.M.” She asked him to stop using those terms to describe her (describing the woman who was assaulted as “fun E.M.” is demeaning and frankly disgusting). The lawyer ignored her, and the judge did nothing. E.M.’s team did not raise complaint with some of the questions because they felt while the questioning was sometimes out of line that making so many objections would reflect negatively in the jury’s eyes and may be interpreted as attempts to slow down the trial process. In the end, that wouldn’t matter. There was a mistrial with the first jury when a defendant’s lawyer made inappropriate comments to a jury member during a lunch. The second jury complained to the judge about inappropriate behavior from the defendants’ lawyers, snickering about and belittling the jury members. The trial was eventually moved to a judge-only decision to prevent E.M. from going through the entire grueling process of cross examination yet again. All five defendants were acquitted.
I felt sick to my stomach reading this book. I also felt a sense of grief. Most nights, I unwind with a hockey game. This sport has been a comfort for me and an immense source of joy at times. There is so much talent in the league. These teams are full of emotional players who care about their team, who want to win as a team, who take it hard when they lose as a team. I do think that at the core of sport, there is love. Love for the game, love for the people you play it with, love for the fans who support you, love for the mentors who introduced you to the game. How can you not be romantic about hockey? About baseball? About football? About track? About gymnastics? About tennis? About F1? Sure, even about cornhole? I think we all need more romance in our lives. Sports give that to me. Sports also bring great heartache and dark days.
I think more eyes are on the NHL than ever. New fans are making their way to the sport every day. With more visibility, I hope there is more accountability. Eventually, it will be too hard to let down so many fans, right? NHL runs advertisements about how the next golden era of hockey is here. I hope that’s true. It feels like it’s true. I think we are upon some great generational change. I hope there are young kids today learning hockey and learning the core values that all kind human beings share - open-mindedness, no tolerance for bullying, respect for one another, and vulnerability. I hope in my lifetime, there will be NHL stars who never felt like the team bus was a cage or like a team gathering was a high stakes test. I hope fans can feel dignified when they talk about their favorite players and their favorite teams. I hope VGK can do better. I hope growing the sport also means growth in that soul-deep way.
I hope the Wild makes it past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I hope the Frost win their 3rd Walter Cup. I hope I watch more Aces basketball games.
I hope all fans of hockey read this book.
December 11, 2025
Horrifying and heartbreaking. A necessary book for anyone who has had a loved one play hockey - or anyone who loves the sport that brings Canada together.
December 24, 2025
Portrait pragmatique et tristement juste d’une situation scandaleuse et socialement alarmante. Près du hockey ou non, ces sujets nous concernent. En espérant que la densité du livre n’en décourage pas sa lecture.
November 14, 2025
A must read for those interested in Hockey Culture, Canadian Culture, and the systems that allow abuse to fester.
Rick Westhead delivers phenomenal, truly ground breaking reporting on the full scope and likely extent of abuse in Jr, Major Jr, and Professional Hockey in Canada. Born out of Westhead's initial reporting on the 2018 Canadian World Junior Hockey sex scandal, this book delivers a broad view of the systemic issues in Hockey culture in Canada.
This is not a hit piece with cherry picked data that focuses on one trial, instead Westhead interviews close to 60 current and former Jr and Professional players, managers, agents, parents and coaches from multiple eras and generations. This reporting is also complemented by inclusions of academic research, comparative cases in other sports, and previous reporting on abuse within the game. This is then also combined with his first hand accounts of the 2025 trial of members of the 2018 Canada World Junior team, which are worth the price of admission alone.
While not exactly a pleasant read (those who are underage or sensitive to graphic stories of abuse should use caution while reading this book) it is undeniably profound, impactful, shocking and ultimately prescriptive towards finding a solution to the prevelance of toxic masculinity in the game, which Westhead identifies as the root cause of so much of the criminal behaviour that has come to light.
But Westhead goes even further, also exposing financial corruption within Junior Hockey, the NHL's misconduct and dangerous attitudes towards CTE and more. The stories presented are unfiltered, and unapologetic - shouting truth in the midst of a culture of silence built on lies of omission.
Truly, a tour-de-force of sports reporting. Unafraid, courageous and insightful.
Rick Westhead delivers phenomenal, truly ground breaking reporting on the full scope and likely extent of abuse in Jr, Major Jr, and Professional Hockey in Canada. Born out of Westhead's initial reporting on the 2018 Canadian World Junior Hockey sex scandal, this book delivers a broad view of the systemic issues in Hockey culture in Canada.
This is not a hit piece with cherry picked data that focuses on one trial, instead Westhead interviews close to 60 current and former Jr and Professional players, managers, agents, parents and coaches from multiple eras and generations. This reporting is also complemented by inclusions of academic research, comparative cases in other sports, and previous reporting on abuse within the game. This is then also combined with his first hand accounts of the 2025 trial of members of the 2018 Canada World Junior team, which are worth the price of admission alone.
While not exactly a pleasant read (those who are underage or sensitive to graphic stories of abuse should use caution while reading this book) it is undeniably profound, impactful, shocking and ultimately prescriptive towards finding a solution to the prevelance of toxic masculinity in the game, which Westhead identifies as the root cause of so much of the criminal behaviour that has come to light.
But Westhead goes even further, also exposing financial corruption within Junior Hockey, the NHL's misconduct and dangerous attitudes towards CTE and more. The stories presented are unfiltered, and unapologetic - shouting truth in the midst of a culture of silence built on lies of omission.
Truly, a tour-de-force of sports reporting. Unafraid, courageous and insightful.
November 19, 2025
I’m not Canadian, I’ve never played hockey, and I don’t know anything about hockey culture. However, I have recently enjoyed following the current NHL season and this title caught my eye. I thought there was some excellent reporting in this book, and I commend the author for not shying away from delving deep into a broad range of systemic issues within the world of men’s hockey. I knew going in that the content would make me feel very disheartened and frustrated. It’s a painful reminder of how conflicting it can feel to try and enjoy any popular sport, especially as a female viewer or fan, when you know how problematic and toxic the culture is. It makes me hope that there are more and more people in positions of power at the top of the sport realizing that it truly does not need to be this way, and that hockey will be better for it.
November 10, 2025
Although he uses the Hockey Canada London Ontario court case as a base the author explores completely the issue of sexual violence, hazing and abuse in hockey, specifically junior hockey.
Without being overly judgemental he projects the facts and the outcomes. He also has recommendations. He does not hold back in his criticism of the leaders of hockey, particularly junior hockey
Well written
Without being overly judgemental he projects the facts and the outcomes. He also has recommendations. He does not hold back in his criticism of the leaders of hockey, particularly junior hockey
Well written
December 17, 2025
Wow, this book was hard to read. Pace yourself. That said, it is so, so important.
Westhead takes a very deep and thorough look at hockey culture in Canada, from the early days of minor hockey through the ranks of major junior. Every page brings stomach-twisting scandal, and as someone who grew up in skates and has been in love with this game as long as I have been on the earth, no truer words about the sickness in this culture have ever been spoken.
I have but one major critique, which is that it went both too broad and too narrow. When Westhead broadened his exploration in some chapters to the under the table financial dealings of AAA and minor junior clubs and drifted from what seems to be the primary focus of sexual assault and extreme hazing of a largely sexual nature, he chose to go forward with a narrative that excluded the rampant racial abuse that that is prevalent in hockey clubs throughout Canada as well. Not that all books have to do all things, but when you open that door to a broader scope, you do have to keep in mind what gets left out.
One additional minor critique is that Westhead himself is too present here. His reactions to player's stories, presumably meant to ground the reader in how socially abnormal the culture is, instead come off as a proclamation that he himself is "one of the good ones." Sir, I do not care. This book is not about you. Similarly, he pushes at times too hard, in my opinion, on showcasing his journalistic integrity and looking at all the pockets of doubt that may exist in these stories. Perhaps the preponderance of them alone could have stood in those detours.
But overall, this book is a remarkable expose of the very broken culture of this sport and the ways in which that perpetuates. He dodges well the question of whether this culture is unique to Canadian hockey or whether is is a microcosm of a larger societal issue, emphasizing that regardless the problem is there and problem needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, most of what was in this book did not surprise me individually, but seeing all of these anecdotes compiled in one volume like this sure did make this one a very troubling read.
Anyone with a kid in hockey 100% needs to read this book. Any one connected to the game at all really should. Thank you, Rick Westhead, for speaking this truth.
Westhead takes a very deep and thorough look at hockey culture in Canada, from the early days of minor hockey through the ranks of major junior. Every page brings stomach-twisting scandal, and as someone who grew up in skates and has been in love with this game as long as I have been on the earth, no truer words about the sickness in this culture have ever been spoken.
I have but one major critique, which is that it went both too broad and too narrow. When Westhead broadened his exploration in some chapters to the under the table financial dealings of AAA and minor junior clubs and drifted from what seems to be the primary focus of sexual assault and extreme hazing of a largely sexual nature, he chose to go forward with a narrative that excluded the rampant racial abuse that that is prevalent in hockey clubs throughout Canada as well. Not that all books have to do all things, but when you open that door to a broader scope, you do have to keep in mind what gets left out.
One additional minor critique is that Westhead himself is too present here. His reactions to player's stories, presumably meant to ground the reader in how socially abnormal the culture is, instead come off as a proclamation that he himself is "one of the good ones." Sir, I do not care. This book is not about you. Similarly, he pushes at times too hard, in my opinion, on showcasing his journalistic integrity and looking at all the pockets of doubt that may exist in these stories. Perhaps the preponderance of them alone could have stood in those detours.
But overall, this book is a remarkable expose of the very broken culture of this sport and the ways in which that perpetuates. He dodges well the question of whether this culture is unique to Canadian hockey or whether is is a microcosm of a larger societal issue, emphasizing that regardless the problem is there and problem needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, most of what was in this book did not surprise me individually, but seeing all of these anecdotes compiled in one volume like this sure did make this one a very troubling read.
Anyone with a kid in hockey 100% needs to read this book. Any one connected to the game at all really should. Thank you, Rick Westhead, for speaking this truth.
December 30, 2025
As I read this book on Canada’s troubled hockey culture, my mind was drawn back to the rinks I’ve been in. I’ve never played any level of hockey (not even close), but as a Canadian, I have a lot of memories that are tied to the sport. I even worked, briefly, for a WHL team. As chapter after chapter outlined the many, many different stories of hockey players at nearly every level of junior hockey committing heinous crimes against teammates and women in their orbit, I wondered about players I admired in the past. How close had they been to situations like what happened in London in 2018? When I used to watch players practice during my lunch breaks at my WHL job, what were the players saying to each other, and to the rookies?
Reading this also brought clarity to a feeling I’ve run into in recent years. I’ve noticed an increase in the prominence of certain kinds of hockey culture, with podcasts, panel shows, and sitcoms featuring meathead players who use hockey lingo and really glorify, right to the line, the kind of things that inevitably lead to the kind of behaviour this book warns about. The more airtime is given to Barstool-equivalent hockey media voices, the worse these problems will get.
Like any sort of organizational or cultural sickness, the deep-tissue problems with hockey need to be addressed if you care about it. Sweeping it under the rug or acting like it doesn’t exist doesn’t work. In an early chapter, the author references sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, and the comparisons are so clear. People will say it’s a select group, or other groups or worse. Some will say ‘it’s just a few bad apples’, but conveniently leave out the rest of that turn of phrase that damns the whole bunch.
Reading this also brought clarity to a feeling I’ve run into in recent years. I’ve noticed an increase in the prominence of certain kinds of hockey culture, with podcasts, panel shows, and sitcoms featuring meathead players who use hockey lingo and really glorify, right to the line, the kind of things that inevitably lead to the kind of behaviour this book warns about. The more airtime is given to Barstool-equivalent hockey media voices, the worse these problems will get.
Like any sort of organizational or cultural sickness, the deep-tissue problems with hockey need to be addressed if you care about it. Sweeping it under the rug or acting like it doesn’t exist doesn’t work. In an early chapter, the author references sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, and the comparisons are so clear. People will say it’s a select group, or other groups or worse. Some will say ‘it’s just a few bad apples’, but conveniently leave out the rest of that turn of phrase that damns the whole bunch.
January 3, 2026
Difficult read but a necessary one! 90% of the book made me want to throw up because of how horrible male hockey players are to women and each other. I’m never putting my kids in hockey now, unless we throw the whole system out
Also crazy to me that there are known rapists currently playing in the nhl????? No wonder hockey isn’t growing as a sport, they’ve made it pretty clear that it is not a safe space
Also crazy to me that there are known rapists currently playing in the nhl????? No wonder hockey isn’t growing as a sport, they’ve made it pretty clear that it is not a safe space
November 19, 2025
Captivating yet devastating. Had me hooked. Some details were so hard to hear, but necessary to discuss.
December 26, 2025
After seeing a few snippets of this book on tumblr right after it came out, I knew I had to get my hands on it as quickly as possible. In the end, that ended up meaning I grabbed the audiobook, which was a fantastic choice. I loved spending the last few weeks using this as a motivation to go on walks to listen to more, and I found Rick Westhead to be a fantastic narrator of his own book. (On a personal note, it also taught me that I don't have a problem with all audiobooks, as consistently I've enjoyed nonfiction! Now I know what to focus on). That being said, you need to know that if I hadn't gotten the audiobook, I surely would've read this in a couple of days flat, max. It's an incredibly engaging piece of long-form journalism that explores big topics, all of them through the lens of Canada's hockey culture. I'd relate it a little to Nomadland, which I also loved reading this year -- clearly I need to be reading more long-form journalism! From the very first chapter, which I listened to while walking through my local park, Westhead had me sobbing, and it was a problem that continued throughout. I had to just commit to looking a little weird in public because I found this to be incredibly affecting. Some of it because of the beautiful positive stories (Westhead's description of how his son's hockey team rallied to support him through his cancer journey really got me), but a lot of it was because of tragedy. I need to be clear, this is a very difficult book to read. Key topics that appear over and over are hazing, child exploitation, sexual abuse, and gender-based violence. Westhead keeps his commentary factual rather than sensationalised, but the facts involve explicit descriptions of some of these horrible acts, often as they appear in court records. Unfortunately, that's something that's necessary to talk about when discussing this topic, because they make up a lot of the rot in the bedrock of Canada's hockey culture, especially among the junior leagues. At the beginning of the book, Westhead writes that he's not trying to tell a positive or negative story, but that he's trying to tell a true story. It focuses on hockey-specific aspects of culture, especially why practises & attitudes occur, how they are perpetuated, and the experiences of players and community members, but also topics in wider culture that are reflected and refracted through hockey culture, such as misogyny, racism, homophobia, and much more. I really love hockey, and for whatever reason it's a sport that really resonates with me & that I dedicate a lot of time to. It was therefore especially important to me to look it square in the eye, not glorify it, but accept the many failings and the people and structures that perpetuate them.
Westhead is especially well-known for reporting on sexual misconduct scandals in hockey, first the Blackhawks sexual assault scandal, and then later for breaking the news of the 2018 Canada WJC sexual assault scandal with TSN. The latter is the impetus for this book existing, and discussions of it bookend the novel. Having Westhead's narration, talking about his experiences of being at the 6-week court case in 2022, hearing the barely-controlled anger in his voice, made this incredibly powerful. It made me feel angry to read, too. The quote from the book that best sums it up is, "'Never again,' they said, again.". Many of the problems discussed are cyclical, victims becoming perpetrators, and the people and organisations with the power to affect change rarely seem willing or interested in doing so. I felt angry at the perpetrators, the people that stood by and let things happen, the organisations that chased profits above humanity, the systems that make money off of keeping people quiet and keeping the status quo. The topics and teams that Westhead covers are sweeping, across junior, major junior and adult professional leagues, but the same threads appear again and again, interweaving to create a picture of the culture. I didn't love what was reflected back at me.
I'm glad I read this book. It was hard to read, often nauseating in understanding the things people are willing to do to each other. It was enlightening, too, peeling back the shiny plastic exterior to see the ugly cogs that keep the machine working. I liked that in the end, it was hopeful, too. Westhead talked with a number of people who were dedicating themselves to improving Canada's hockey culture, who really really cared, and many of them were starting to see results, too. In the final chapter, one of the coaches Westhead talks to says that trying to make a change happen feels like using a teaspoon to empty the ocean -- but it's worth it, when every drop of water is a kid whose life you have a chance to change. All of this matters, because we love hockey, and people deserve to enjoy the sport they love, and have it improve their life rather than the opposite.
If you like hockey, or sports in general, or care about modern masculinity and social bonding, or want to understand some of the roots of gender-based violence, or just like good journalism -- read this book. It is so, so, worth it. It is impeccably researched, direct and honest, and masterfully written to draw out a bigger picture. And, if you can, grab the audiobook!
Westhead is especially well-known for reporting on sexual misconduct scandals in hockey, first the Blackhawks sexual assault scandal, and then later for breaking the news of the 2018 Canada WJC sexual assault scandal with TSN. The latter is the impetus for this book existing, and discussions of it bookend the novel. Having Westhead's narration, talking about his experiences of being at the 6-week court case in 2022, hearing the barely-controlled anger in his voice, made this incredibly powerful. It made me feel angry to read, too. The quote from the book that best sums it up is, "'Never again,' they said, again.". Many of the problems discussed are cyclical, victims becoming perpetrators, and the people and organisations with the power to affect change rarely seem willing or interested in doing so. I felt angry at the perpetrators, the people that stood by and let things happen, the organisations that chased profits above humanity, the systems that make money off of keeping people quiet and keeping the status quo. The topics and teams that Westhead covers are sweeping, across junior, major junior and adult professional leagues, but the same threads appear again and again, interweaving to create a picture of the culture. I didn't love what was reflected back at me.
I'm glad I read this book. It was hard to read, often nauseating in understanding the things people are willing to do to each other. It was enlightening, too, peeling back the shiny plastic exterior to see the ugly cogs that keep the machine working. I liked that in the end, it was hopeful, too. Westhead talked with a number of people who were dedicating themselves to improving Canada's hockey culture, who really really cared, and many of them were starting to see results, too. In the final chapter, one of the coaches Westhead talks to says that trying to make a change happen feels like using a teaspoon to empty the ocean -- but it's worth it, when every drop of water is a kid whose life you have a chance to change. All of this matters, because we love hockey, and people deserve to enjoy the sport they love, and have it improve their life rather than the opposite.
If you like hockey, or sports in general, or care about modern masculinity and social bonding, or want to understand some of the roots of gender-based violence, or just like good journalism -- read this book. It is so, so, worth it. It is impeccably researched, direct and honest, and masterfully written to draw out a bigger picture. And, if you can, grab the audiobook!
January 13, 2026
This was a phenomenal book that opened my eyes to the dark underbelly of junior hockey in Canada. While the high profile World Junior SA case grabbed my attention, this book went much deeper into the culture of hockey involving hazing, abuse, injury’s, substance abuse, leaving home, peer pressure, power dynamics, privilege, corruption, media/the public’s attitude towards hockey & more.
As a high school teacher, I see my students who play high level hockey & worry what cultures they are around or could become around. It’s made me think twice about how we teach & treat our boys in hockey. While all these issues are important, the sexual misconduct stuck out to me. I praise the survivors for coming forward & having the courage to speak out against such powerful organizations. I just wish systems in power were able to serve justice for the many men & women who deserve it in the cases provided.
My current thoughts lead to women’s hockey. While the culture of proving your manhood would not be present, are there similar problems? Why or why not? I’ve liked watching heated rivalry, but what did Hollander have to go through in Jr. hockey? Ignorance is bliss & this knowledge is a burden.
Like usual, I have attached some quotes I found impactful. I would recommend this book to every Canadian, especially those who are Jr. hockey fans, OHL fans, players & parents of boys in rep hockey. TW of course for detailed descriptions sexual assault.
“"Even if you can help [players] understand [abuse] , I'm not sure that you'll ever dent the protective armour that hockey seems to have in Canada."
“the notion that the sport had established a systemic pattern of abuse and cover-ups was too difficult, too painful and too inconvenient for many to acknowledge.”
“"They don't want to know what they don't know. Because if they do [know], then they have to do something about it."”
“"[Survivors] don't have power over a judge's decision, only over their own [testimony], and even if a judge pronounces an acquittal, which is very hard for a victim to hear, in the days, weeks and months after, the victim can still look in a mirror and be proud of what she did. She stood up for herself.”
“"I am not angry, I'm just sad," she said. "All of my family, my friends, my boyfriend, everyone around me doesn't understand this... It's not uncommon for us (survivors) to feel frustration, and sadness and shame.”
“Not releasing the report reveals the commitment of Western University to its brand and reputation, not to athletes and their well-being” (Can confirm this happens at Western!)
"It's not something anyone wants to talk about," he said. "But if we don't address it head-on, we're just perpetuating the same problems."”
As a high school teacher, I see my students who play high level hockey & worry what cultures they are around or could become around. It’s made me think twice about how we teach & treat our boys in hockey. While all these issues are important, the sexual misconduct stuck out to me. I praise the survivors for coming forward & having the courage to speak out against such powerful organizations. I just wish systems in power were able to serve justice for the many men & women who deserve it in the cases provided.
My current thoughts lead to women’s hockey. While the culture of proving your manhood would not be present, are there similar problems? Why or why not? I’ve liked watching heated rivalry, but what did Hollander have to go through in Jr. hockey? Ignorance is bliss & this knowledge is a burden.
Like usual, I have attached some quotes I found impactful. I would recommend this book to every Canadian, especially those who are Jr. hockey fans, OHL fans, players & parents of boys in rep hockey. TW of course for detailed descriptions sexual assault.
“"Even if you can help [players] understand [abuse] , I'm not sure that you'll ever dent the protective armour that hockey seems to have in Canada."
“the notion that the sport had established a systemic pattern of abuse and cover-ups was too difficult, too painful and too inconvenient for many to acknowledge.”
“"They don't want to know what they don't know. Because if they do [know], then they have to do something about it."”
“"[Survivors] don't have power over a judge's decision, only over their own [testimony], and even if a judge pronounces an acquittal, which is very hard for a victim to hear, in the days, weeks and months after, the victim can still look in a mirror and be proud of what she did. She stood up for herself.”
“"I am not angry, I'm just sad," she said. "All of my family, my friends, my boyfriend, everyone around me doesn't understand this... It's not uncommon for us (survivors) to feel frustration, and sadness and shame.”
“Not releasing the report reveals the commitment of Western University to its brand and reputation, not to athletes and their well-being” (Can confirm this happens at Western!)
"It's not something anyone wants to talk about," he said. "But if we don't address it head-on, we're just perpetuating the same problems."”
January 15, 2026
This was an incredibly hard book to read. If you come from Canada and have been exposed to hockey, and hockey culture nothing in this book will be surprising - and isn't that really the biggest shame of all?
I like that Westhead puts the onus on coaches and their responsibility to holding these young boys accountable in the end. The need to create spaces for these kids to express themselves openly without fear of judgement or ridicule is invaluable. Every anecdote used in this book is proof of that.
I like that Westhead puts the onus on coaches and their responsibility to holding these young boys accountable in the end. The need to create spaces for these kids to express themselves openly without fear of judgement or ridicule is invaluable. Every anecdote used in this book is proof of that.
December 8, 2025
A blunt, honest, and deeply upsetting look at the culture surrounding hockey and it's junior teams- mostly in Canada, but also what happens when those junior players grow up and play on (or coach, or own) teams in the NHL.
Rick Westhead doesn't shy away from the awful things that go on and are encouraged to happen to these young- SO YOUNG - players. He's meticulous with his research, interviews and quotes and hearing from actual people that experienced the hazing, sexual assault, and emotional torment all in the name of "team-building" is such a hard thing to digest. Hockey and the people that it has brought into my life means so much to me, but there is no denying it is a toxic culture of misogyny and ego needs to change.
As a person that identifies as a woman, loving hockey and being a fan of the NHL is not easy. This book shows exactly why and how that culture starts sometimes in mite leagues. The players in this book sharing their stories and so beyond brave and it's my biggest hope that this book falls into the hands of those within hockey culture that need it this most.
A tough, but absolutely necessary, read for any hockey fan.
Rick Westhead doesn't shy away from the awful things that go on and are encouraged to happen to these young- SO YOUNG - players. He's meticulous with his research, interviews and quotes and hearing from actual people that experienced the hazing, sexual assault, and emotional torment all in the name of "team-building" is such a hard thing to digest. Hockey and the people that it has brought into my life means so much to me, but there is no denying it is a toxic culture of misogyny and ego needs to change.
As a person that identifies as a woman, loving hockey and being a fan of the NHL is not easy. This book shows exactly why and how that culture starts sometimes in mite leagues. The players in this book sharing their stories and so beyond brave and it's my biggest hope that this book falls into the hands of those within hockey culture that need it this most.
A tough, but absolutely necessary, read for any hockey fan.
January 13, 2026
It’s hard to face the dark parts of something you love so much. This book is a must read for anyone who says they like hockey. We can love the game and still see that there are MAJOR changes that need to occur. Also f Carter Hart and the rest of those guys.
December 2, 2025
This is a well researched, detailed look at Canadian junior hockey culture. Hazing, SA cases, trauma and other abuses all quietly swept aside and hushed up to continue making money. This is by no means an easy read, but it’s such an important one. My heart hurts for the women that have been failed by the police and justice system and by the hockey organizations. It’s well written and the audiobook is narrated by the author, who did a great job. It’s a thoughtful, heavy, emotional and impactful read that I absolutely recommend, but be cautious of the triggers bc there are some graphic details included that might be hard for some to process.
I love hockey, but appreciate that there are people willing to shine a light into some remaining toxic aspects of the sport. I applaud all of those who were brave enough to share their stories with the author. While the story is heartbreaking and horrifying, there were some suggestions and improvements already taking place that do leave a somewhat more positive outlook going forward. It’s also worth noting that the NHL remains the only major pro sport that does not have a process in place to discipline athletes for any off ice domestic incidents at this time.
I love hockey, but appreciate that there are people willing to shine a light into some remaining toxic aspects of the sport. I applaud all of those who were brave enough to share their stories with the author. While the story is heartbreaking and horrifying, there were some suggestions and improvements already taking place that do leave a somewhat more positive outlook going forward. It’s also worth noting that the NHL remains the only major pro sport that does not have a process in place to discipline athletes for any off ice domestic incidents at this time.
December 31, 2025
a scathing critique and necessary investigation into hockey culture.
i enjoyed the comparison between swedish and canadian hockey. the rest of the book was so revolting i felt physically ill reading it at times. not for lack of journalistic quality but because of it. descriptions of hazing, sexual abuse, isolation moving into billet families, peer pressure, toxic masculinity, athlete worship, legal neglect, the list goes on, that's what makes your stomach turn. it's required reading for every canadian hockey fan.
it was bittersweet reading this while supporting team canada at the 2025 world juniors and watching them fill us with pride and embarrass us after the game with czechia. possibly the best time to enjoy the sport when both its ugliness and its beauty have never before been in such full display. it is imperative that we open our eyes and see.
i enjoyed the comparison between swedish and canadian hockey. the rest of the book was so revolting i felt physically ill reading it at times. not for lack of journalistic quality but because of it. descriptions of hazing, sexual abuse, isolation moving into billet families, peer pressure, toxic masculinity, athlete worship, legal neglect, the list goes on, that's what makes your stomach turn. it's required reading for every canadian hockey fan.
it was bittersweet reading this while supporting team canada at the 2025 world juniors and watching them fill us with pride and embarrass us after the game with czechia. possibly the best time to enjoy the sport when both its ugliness and its beauty have never before been in such full display. it is imperative that we open our eyes and see.
November 24, 2025
Rick Westhead est le journaliste qui a mis en lumière le scandale chez Hockey Canada. Quand les 5 hockeyeurs ont été déclarés non coupables d'agression sexuelle, il s'est quand même posé la question : est-ce que c'est normal qu'une équipe de hockey fasse ça ?
Ce livre est un dossier journaliste qui se lit parfois comme un thriller, parfois comme une histoire d'horreur. Westhead nous livre non seulement ses impressions sur le procès d'Hockey Canada (et disons qu'on se doute de ce qu'il pense du verdict), il remonte à la source, avec des cas d'agressions qui remontent à des décennies. Il décortique les problèmes avec le monde du hockey ; le vedettariat, l'argent, le déménagement de jeunes de 15 à des centaines de kilomètres de chez eux, les initiations, etc.
We Breed Lions devrait être lu dans toutes les écoles. C'est une lecture difficile mais ô combien éclairante sur le monde du hockey. J'ai souvent été fâchée, triste, dégoûtée. J'espère que c'est un petit grain de sel qui fera bouger les choses.
Ce livre est un dossier journaliste qui se lit parfois comme un thriller, parfois comme une histoire d'horreur. Westhead nous livre non seulement ses impressions sur le procès d'Hockey Canada (et disons qu'on se doute de ce qu'il pense du verdict), il remonte à la source, avec des cas d'agressions qui remontent à des décennies. Il décortique les problèmes avec le monde du hockey ; le vedettariat, l'argent, le déménagement de jeunes de 15 à des centaines de kilomètres de chez eux, les initiations, etc.
We Breed Lions devrait être lu dans toutes les écoles. C'est une lecture difficile mais ô combien éclairante sur le monde du hockey. J'ai souvent été fâchée, triste, dégoûtée. J'espère que c'est un petit grain de sel qui fera bouger les choses.
December 4, 2025
Two killer quotes: “Male students hung banners in their residences that said “no means more beer. No means tie me up. No means harder. No means I’m a dyke. And no means kick her in the teeth.” The obscene signs displayed in one of the windows of the dormitories ridiculed the annual “no means no” rape awareness campaign.”
“The allegations in the lawsuit led a clear ruthless path: the players bought the victim multiple drinks and separated her from her friends: that is strategy. She left with one player and was glassy eyed and slurring her words, he then invited the other players into the hotel room without her knowledge or agreement: that is a plan. The players made the victim attest to being sober on camera: that’s alibi creation. They pressured her to stay in the room when she tried to leave: that’s non consensual. They made her shower afterward, reducing the evidence available for a rape kit: that is predatory.”
“The allegations in the lawsuit led a clear ruthless path: the players bought the victim multiple drinks and separated her from her friends: that is strategy. She left with one player and was glassy eyed and slurring her words, he then invited the other players into the hotel room without her knowledge or agreement: that is a plan. The players made the victim attest to being sober on camera: that’s alibi creation. They pressured her to stay in the room when she tried to leave: that’s non consensual. They made her shower afterward, reducing the evidence available for a rape kit: that is predatory.”
November 15, 2025
Rick Westhead is known in the hockey community, especially if you followed the Kyle Beach case or the QMJHL hazing scandal a few years ago, or even his coverage over the most recent Hockey Canada scandal with E.M. His reporting is detailed and pays respect to the victims while also putting responsibility on the players, coaches and everyone else involved in this behaviour.
This book details about the E.M case, there is a chapter dedicated to the trial but it also mentions Kyle Beach and many other cases as well, like Sheldon Kennedy's. The cases are spread throughout the book but showcases well how prevalent they are and how often the perpetrators have little to none consequences coming from it; both in the justice system and in their careers as well. They are all well researched, as well as for many of these people he wrote about, he talks to the victims themselves and it is hard to read but important to do so, the entire book is really an important read on multiple aspects. This is only one of them.
One main factor of this entire book is the fact that it focuses completely on Canadian athletes, specifically on those in hockey. For those who did not grow up in Canada as I did, I was born in and lived in for almost 7 years in Scotland and football (soccer) is the big thing over there, it's the sport to play, to watch, to follow. In Canada, it's hockey; but the difference between here and there is Canadians follow juniors hockey, in the town I grew up in they advertised their games on a hotel sign, you can tell who is hockey players when you go to school, you hear the radio talk about playoffs season. Whether you follow hockey or not, it's impossible to escape. Although I got into hockey many years later, I have a hatred towards the Calgary Flames for what is petty reasoning: I heard about them non-stop, constantly and year-round for my entire life while living in Canada. This seems irrelevant but it's to note how important hockey is to Canadians and this book demonstrates that well.
In We Breed Lions, it demonstrates clearly the corruption that lies beneath the surface, the hazing, the way juniors feel adoration from girls and just walking down the street holding their gear. There is a culture that is meant to boost a teenager's ego to degrees that is impossible for anyone to be able to handle normally. Yet, their vets have experienced, their coaches have experienced and if their dad's have played hockey or their brothers, they too have experienced this extreme ego boost. With my previous paragraph, it's hard for hockey players, no matter how young to not feel this unrestrained love, dedication and devotion. Your team is mentioned on the radio, your team is mentioned on signs across the town, your name is talked about to people who follow the CHL (WHL, OHL, QMJHL). You get nudes from girls who don't realize they are committing a crime, you get nods and waves from people walking by when holding your duffle bag of gear, you have a community behind you for whatever happens to you: these are all things mentioned (and more) in We Breed Lions.
In the book, a former player says it best: "(...) it is ingrained in us that our teammates are our brothers. We are expected to have each other's back, to lie for each other if we have to. Civilians wouldn't understand it. When we look around the room, we see twenty clones of ourselves and we all know we are better than everyone else. This is our culture. We breed lions, and how do you tell a lion to stop being a lion?"
Aside from the Canadian culture around hockey, it also focuses on the homoerotic, humiliating, embarrassing, and hypersexualized nature of hazing, how and what hockey players are brought up to believe is okay. The dehumanization around women is spoken to a great degree and it feels disgusting reading what they say behind their backs, how many they have "killed" (aka fucked) on a weekly basis. Westhead deals with these sensitive and delicate topics with a silver spoon. Westhead mentions how when the Hockey Canada scandal came out, it would change the hockey world forever; I agree partially but on the other hand, because of how ingrained hockey is in Canada, I don't know how changed it will feel considering Carter Hart, Sam Steel, Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk, Brett Howden, and Jake Bean have either been signed recently or still currently are employed by NHL teams (the other players have an open invitation essentially). On the other hand, even looking on Twitter, on Reddit, I see people being on E.M's side, which is rare for hockey fans, they even brought up an infamous Google Spreadsheet made in 2015 of every single player, coach and anyone else involved in hockey leagues who have had an accusation, charge or prison time of sexual assault, abuse and harassment.
There is a lot that needs to be changed, as Rick Westhead mentions. I personally wish he included a more personal anecdote of what he thinks should be done to change this, this and the fact that it can seem a little everywhere (this seems more nitpicky though) these two are really the only criticisms I have of the book. [And also the fact he mentioned Israel when he mentioned his journalism career but alas] I truly believe this should be read by those who have grown up in Canada, those who follow male hockey or both; it's incredibly insightful, emotional and you feel a part of yourself die because there is so much harm and hurt and nobody seems to do anything to stop this unfortunately. Maybe this book will help us get one step forward.
This book details about the E.M case, there is a chapter dedicated to the trial but it also mentions Kyle Beach and many other cases as well, like Sheldon Kennedy's. The cases are spread throughout the book but showcases well how prevalent they are and how often the perpetrators have little to none consequences coming from it; both in the justice system and in their careers as well. They are all well researched, as well as for many of these people he wrote about, he talks to the victims themselves and it is hard to read but important to do so, the entire book is really an important read on multiple aspects. This is only one of them.
One main factor of this entire book is the fact that it focuses completely on Canadian athletes, specifically on those in hockey. For those who did not grow up in Canada as I did, I was born in and lived in for almost 7 years in Scotland and football (soccer) is the big thing over there, it's the sport to play, to watch, to follow. In Canada, it's hockey; but the difference between here and there is Canadians follow juniors hockey, in the town I grew up in they advertised their games on a hotel sign, you can tell who is hockey players when you go to school, you hear the radio talk about playoffs season. Whether you follow hockey or not, it's impossible to escape. Although I got into hockey many years later, I have a hatred towards the Calgary Flames for what is petty reasoning: I heard about them non-stop, constantly and year-round for my entire life while living in Canada. This seems irrelevant but it's to note how important hockey is to Canadians and this book demonstrates that well.
In We Breed Lions, it demonstrates clearly the corruption that lies beneath the surface, the hazing, the way juniors feel adoration from girls and just walking down the street holding their gear. There is a culture that is meant to boost a teenager's ego to degrees that is impossible for anyone to be able to handle normally. Yet, their vets have experienced, their coaches have experienced and if their dad's have played hockey or their brothers, they too have experienced this extreme ego boost. With my previous paragraph, it's hard for hockey players, no matter how young to not feel this unrestrained love, dedication and devotion. Your team is mentioned on the radio, your team is mentioned on signs across the town, your name is talked about to people who follow the CHL (WHL, OHL, QMJHL). You get nudes from girls who don't realize they are committing a crime, you get nods and waves from people walking by when holding your duffle bag of gear, you have a community behind you for whatever happens to you: these are all things mentioned (and more) in We Breed Lions.
In the book, a former player says it best: "(...) it is ingrained in us that our teammates are our brothers. We are expected to have each other's back, to lie for each other if we have to. Civilians wouldn't understand it. When we look around the room, we see twenty clones of ourselves and we all know we are better than everyone else. This is our culture. We breed lions, and how do you tell a lion to stop being a lion?"
Aside from the Canadian culture around hockey, it also focuses on the homoerotic, humiliating, embarrassing, and hypersexualized nature of hazing, how and what hockey players are brought up to believe is okay. The dehumanization around women is spoken to a great degree and it feels disgusting reading what they say behind their backs, how many they have "killed" (aka fucked) on a weekly basis. Westhead deals with these sensitive and delicate topics with a silver spoon. Westhead mentions how when the Hockey Canada scandal came out, it would change the hockey world forever; I agree partially but on the other hand, because of how ingrained hockey is in Canada, I don't know how changed it will feel considering Carter Hart, Sam Steel, Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk, Brett Howden, and Jake Bean have either been signed recently or still currently are employed by NHL teams (the other players have an open invitation essentially). On the other hand, even looking on Twitter, on Reddit, I see people being on E.M's side, which is rare for hockey fans, they even brought up an infamous Google Spreadsheet made in 2015 of every single player, coach and anyone else involved in hockey leagues who have had an accusation, charge or prison time of sexual assault, abuse and harassment.
There is a lot that needs to be changed, as Rick Westhead mentions. I personally wish he included a more personal anecdote of what he thinks should be done to change this, this and the fact that it can seem a little everywhere (this seems more nitpicky though) these two are really the only criticisms I have of the book. [And also the fact he mentioned Israel when he mentioned his journalism career but alas] I truly believe this should be read by those who have grown up in Canada, those who follow male hockey or both; it's incredibly insightful, emotional and you feel a part of yourself die because there is so much harm and hurt and nobody seems to do anything to stop this unfortunately. Maybe this book will help us get one step forward.
January 11, 2026
ugh this was so hard to stomach, especially after spending the holiday break blissfully in the beautiful parallel world jacob tierney brought to life with heated rivalry. as someone who has watched and been involved with hockey for many years, none of hockey’s cultural problems were new to me, but having it all succinctly presented and thoughtfully critiqued together in one book was a lot to sit with. hockey is such a frustrating game to love if you are not a straight white man - in it’s purest form it is fast, fun, and elegantly violent, but under it’s current stewardship that clings to the glory of the old boys who refuse to let the culture evolve and expand, it feels like the toxicity is somehow getting worse.
i am so thankful that westhead has the journalistic skills, integrity, and quite frankly, the stomach to stick with shedding light on the darker sides of hockey culture, and that tsn supports and broadcasts his work.
i am so thankful that westhead has the journalistic skills, integrity, and quite frankly, the stomach to stick with shedding light on the darker sides of hockey culture, and that tsn supports and broadcasts his work.
December 7, 2025
"never again, hockey officials said. again"
I have always appreciated Westhead's investigative journalism, and this book highlights so many things I love: he respects his sources and is meticulous about corroborating evidence. he's gotten an impressive and diverse group on record -- players, coaches, agents, parents, researchers & experts.
so often in discussions about hockey culture, it starts and stops at the top. the NHL, maybe the top rungs of the canadian professional leagues that feed into the NHL. & while he covers those leagues, he also goes all the way back to U9s and how we end up with men who think consent is optional.
Westhead deftly lays out the ways hockey canada culture creates perpetrators and victims, demands and rewards bystanders, and normalizes abuse through insularity. He also offers alternatives and highlights the ways it could and is being done in other countries and by individual team leadership.
I think non-hockey fans who have come out of insular religious communities will find a lot of overlap re: the culture of silence and conformity & how difficult speaking up/leaving can be when your identity/community/employment is tied up in an insular community.
I have always appreciated Westhead's investigative journalism, and this book highlights so many things I love: he respects his sources and is meticulous about corroborating evidence. he's gotten an impressive and diverse group on record -- players, coaches, agents, parents, researchers & experts.
so often in discussions about hockey culture, it starts and stops at the top. the NHL, maybe the top rungs of the canadian professional leagues that feed into the NHL. & while he covers those leagues, he also goes all the way back to U9s and how we end up with men who think consent is optional.
Westhead deftly lays out the ways hockey canada culture creates perpetrators and victims, demands and rewards bystanders, and normalizes abuse through insularity. He also offers alternatives and highlights the ways it could and is being done in other countries and by individual team leadership.
I think non-hockey fans who have come out of insular religious communities will find a lot of overlap re: the culture of silence and conformity & how difficult speaking up/leaving can be when your identity/community/employment is tied up in an insular community.
January 14, 2026
I was genuinely shocked reading this. But... when boys are moved away from home at a young age often with little supervision, been told they are "elite" their entire lives, then commodified, placed in environments with rigid and deeply ingrained ideas of masculinity, within institutions that protect themselves, their image, and winning at the expense of people... maybe the outcomes shouldn't be surprising? Deeply unsettling, but important.
December 11, 2025
Very well written and researched book. Eye-opening on hockey culture and shed so much light for me on the events that occurred in the most recent Hockey Canada trial (even though that is a small portion of the book). Feel like this should be a must-read for anyone in and around hockey. I really appreciated the last chapter and the slow signs of change that are taking place.
January 11, 2026
Be forewarned, if I know you, I’m probably going to try and convince you to read this book.
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