"Hockey for me offered hope. Some light in the dark tunnel."
I felt exactly the same. 2020 has been a horrible year for me as well. I had zero hope for the playoffs this year, I thought that hockey would take their lumps and gear up for a season starting in October. I saw how the Canucks did without Markstrom, and I feared that they would simply fall out of a playoff spot in the end for their fifth season without playoffs, which would be a franchise record.
I was pleasantly surprised with the Minnesota series. I disagreed with how the NHL ran it, I thought that they should take points percentage and cut it off when the season stopped. I thought that was the fairest way to run it, so that teams that didn't get as many games had an equal opportunity to make the playoffs. I think the 'expanded one-time tournament' was not a bad way to do it. Happy they beat Minny to arrive at the real playoffs.
Then they knock off the cup champions in an absolutely thrilling series. Me and my brother had been watching the series together. We really like the grit and the heart in this new team and I was looking forward to more years with Quinn Hancock.
Then this. They would never do it for Republicans. They didn't stop play for the girl and her father who were shot by thugs. No, they did it for a man who raped a 15 year old girl. They forget what Jordan said many years ago, "republicans buy shoes too". Hockey has had a tough year, but the in your face preaching the tired old saw of 'racism', "you are racist unless you agree with us". Why would I want to be a part of that toxicity and participate in it?
So I'm out. They have said, "we believe so strongly to tell you that you hate and what you believe is wrong, that we are willing to stop playing to stand out there and tell you that you have to agree with us or we'll call you racist". Yeah. Sure. And see above in this thread. Again, "you must agree with us or we'll call you racist".
That is toxic behavior. I wanted to like this team and cheer them on, and see what they would do. But until they issue an apology to all of their fans, I'm not interested in watching the remnants of this playoff run. Nor will me and my brother watch together. We can do other things like playing games together - where we don't have to see advertisements telling us, "you are racists unless you agree with us".
I thought it was all about the hockey. But sadly, it's not. I've waited 5 years for this to see the Canucks in a relevant playoff game, and they decided it was worth cancelling those games to "make their point". Got it. Loud and clear. Get Woke, Go Broke