Talk Is Cheap on Sexual Misconduct

Sheldon Kennedy was sexually assaulted by his junior hockey coach more than 350 times over a 10-year period--sometimes with a shotgun pointed at him--and only now are Canadian junior hockey officials discussing how to institute background checks on the men entrusted with their childrens’ lives.

Kennedy, a winger with the Boston Bruins, and another player who has maintained anonymity filed suit last summer against Graham James, long a successful coach in the junior ranks. James last week pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault between 1984 and 1994 and was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. He can be out on day parole in September.

“He took the youth right out of me,” Kennedy said in an emotional ESPN interview. “My years from 14 until now have kind of been a fog. I’ll never forgive him.”

Many youth hockey coaches are parents who begin as volunteers and advance through the system without undergoing the type of screening an employer would run on a job seeker. Canadian hockey officials are discussing how to screen coaches--such programs already exist in USA Hockey--but it’s too late for Kennedy. And for how many other players? Canadian law enforcement officials are still investigating to determine whether there are other victims.

Coaches can be powerful authority figures in the Canadian junior ranks, where kids often leave home at 14 or 15 and live with local families as they take the first steps toward an NHL career.

“At 15 in the hockey world, it’s a tough thing to do, to say a man has touched you or made sexual moves on you,” Kennedy said. “You don’t want to wreck your dreams.”

He was 14 or 15 and James was 31 or 32 when the assaults began. Every Tuesday and Thursday for six years, Kennedy went to James’ house.

“He considered me his wife,” Kennedy said of James, who coached the Swift Current (Saskatchewan) Broncos to the 1989 Memorial Cup junior championship and has coached NHL stars Joe Sakic and Theo Fleury. “There was absolutely nowhere for me to turn. I had no one, nobody.”

Kennedy, who drank to hide his turmoil, kept his secret until he was with the Calgary Flames, his second NHL team. He signed with the Bruins last summer but got a personal leave to go to Calgary for events leading up to the trial. He has played 14 games this season.

Sadly, the James case is not a first in Canadian minor hockey. In 1996, the Quebec Ice Hockey Federation barred Martin Dubuc from coaching after he was convicted of sexual assault on two players, but he later returned to coaching. Former Drummondville (Quebec) coach Jean Begin, convicted of seven counts of sexual assault on boys in 1991, committed suicide after serving a six-month prison sentence. Stephane Valois of Sorel, Quebec, was charged with three counts of sexual assault on minors shortly after his team won the national midget championship in 1990. He was sentenced to five months in jail.

Canadians have reacted with shock and outrage, and popular commentator Don Cherry blasted James in an obscenity-laced tirade on national TV.

Talk is fine, but it’s time to act. Coaches must be carefully scrutinized, and kids must be assured there’s no shame in reporting improper acts by a coach or authority figure. Innocence is too precious a gift to be stolen.

DO THE PANTHERS STILL HAVE CLAWS?

Their offense dried up, their determination was wavering and the Florida Panthers were beginning to look like an ordinary team, not the tireless bunch that rode a wave of plastic rats and sterling defense to the Stanley Cup finals last spring.

When the Nov. 19 trade that sent center Stu Barnes and defenseman Jason Woolley to Pittsburgh for Chris Wells didn’t pay immediate dividends, the Panthers’ spirits fell--and so did their standing in the Atlantic Division.

Passed by the revitalized Philadelphia Flyers, the Panthers struggled to regain their identity. They hope they took the first step with a 5-0 victory over the Kings on Saturday at the Forum, the opener of a five-game trip that continues Wednesday at Anaheim against the Mighty Ducks.

“We were getting away from Panther hockey of a consistent work ethic, of four lines, six defensemen, never letting up,” defenseman Gord Murphy said. “We have to play hard and play together for us to have success.”

Said goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck: “The term we’ve been using is ‘energized,’ to try to play with some energy.”

That energy was lacking for most of December. They began the month with a 15-3-6 record and finished 20-9-9, second in their division and in the Eastern Conference. They missed Barnes, not because he was a sniper--he had 19 goals last season and six in 22 playoff games--but because his departure broke up an unusually cohesive team.

The Panthers have 12 players from their 1993 opening-night roster, and Barnes had joined them in their second month. Wells brought size, which management wanted, but he may be a long-term project.

“It’s something we had to put behind us and it’s not easy,” Vanbiesbrouck said of the Barnes trade. “It doesn’t matter if he plays one minute or 50 minutes, he was part of it and it was something we did together. . . . Fortunately, we’re in good position, 11 games over .500 and playing in the toughest division in hockey.”

The Panthers’ grinding style is more difficult to play over a season than a wide-open game because it requires more hitting and personal sacrifice. It’s to Coach Doug MacLean’s credit that his players haven’t lost faith.

“It’s tougher, but the rewards are higher because the rewards are for everybody,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “It’s not one guy doing it all, it’s every single guy. That’s significant down the road. You can’t say we have four checking lines because somebody comes up big and scores when we need it. It’s fun to play on a team like this because you never know what to expect.”

Expect excellence from the Panthers. They won’t disappoint.

A NET GAIN

Scoring has increased from an average of 5.8 goals a game before the Dec. 15 crackdown on illegal goalie equipment to a post-crackdown average of 6.22 goals through Sunday. But New York Ranger goalie Mike Richter doesn’t believe that’s because smaller goalie pads give forwards more net as a target.

“All the forwards are using illegal sticks,” joked Richter, who’s riding a personal 14-0-2 unbeaten streak. “I really don’t know if there’s a correlation. It sometimes happens during the course of the year that scoring goes up. The goalies have an edge early, then the shooters catch up, and then the defense clamps down again before the playoffs.”

NEW KID IN TOWN

There are several reasons to be glad that Joel Quenneville, most recently an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche, was hired Monday to be the St. Louis Blues’ new coach.

The first is that Quenneville was a Colorado Rocky, and anyone who survived that deserves a reward. It’s also good to see a bright guy who paid his dues getting a chance instead of the same old suspects getting another opportunity to fail.

“He reminds me of a young Tony La Russa,” St. Louis board chairman Jerry Ritter said of Quenneville. “He’s very committed, dedicated and intense, but not Mike Keenan tense. This is a good guy.”

Quenneville has only one season’s coaching experience in the minor leagues, but he spent three seasons in Quebec and Colorado with Marc Crawford and two as Crawford’s assistant in the American Hockey League.

SLAP SHOTS

Teemu Selanne should be on the West All-Star team because he carried the Mighty Ducks while Paul Kariya was hurt, but with Kariya voted in by fans and every team requiring representation, Selanne was caught in a numbers game. Odd picks: Phoenix defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky chosen over teammate Keith Tkachuk, who has scored 24 goals, and Paul Coffey added to the East team. Coffey has played only 25 games and his selfishness in forcing Hartford to trade him to Philadelphia is hardly exemplary.

There is tension between Calgary Coach Pierre Page and center Theoren Fleury. They quibbled over Fleury’s ice time earlier this season and are at odds over Fleury’s work habits. . . . Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock was so unhappy with winger Benoit Hogue’s play in a game against Montreal, he kicked Hogue off the bench and sent him to the dressing room. Good for Hitchcock. Playing time is the juiciest carrot a coach has to motivate players.

After giving goalie Bill Ranford a three-year deal worth nearly $9 million, the Boston Bruins may give Ray Bourque a raise or extension to keep him their highest-paid player. He’s earning $2.5 million on a contract that runs through next season.

Former King coach Barry Melrose claimed he was joking when he praised the Buffalo Sabres on ESPN and said, “[Alex] Zhitnik should never have been traded from LA. I don’t know who did that.” It’s not funny to King fans. Melrose’s meddling and his neglect of players such as Zhitnik and Darryl Sydor triggered the Kings’ decline. . . . The Detroit Red Wings’ 13 losses equal last season’s total.

The Chicago Blackhawks, 7-13-3 at the United Center, are heading for their first losing record at home since 1957-58. Coach Craig Hartsburg got a vote of confidence from General Manager Bob Pulford, who said he’s not about to make a major deal. Pulford does the least with the most resources of any GM.

The Edmonton Oilers laughed at King Coach Larry Robinson’s accusation that they draw penalties by diving. “They’re the fastest team with the best balance and they’re always on their back,” Robinson told the Edmonton Journal. “I’ve got to ask [Oiler Coach Ron Low] how he teaches his team to do that. They’re pretty good actors.” Doug Weight, cited by Robinson as a frequent diver, was offended. “I’ve always had the the utmost respect for Larry,” he said. “I guess it’s not mutual. All I’ll say is, I don’t dive. Tell his players to move their feet, that’s what it is all about.”

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Star of Stars

Wayne Gretzky, who this week was announced as a starter on the Eastern All-Star team, will move into second place alone on the list of All-Star game appearances when he plays in this season’s game, Jan. 18 at San Jose. He and others have a chance to break the lifetime scoring record:

MOST GAMES PLAYED

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23 Gordie Howe 15 Frank Mahovlich *Wayne Gretzky 14 *Ray Bourque 13 Jean Beliveau Alex Delvecchio Doug Harvey Maurice Richard *Paul Coffey

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MOST POINTS

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19 Gordie Howe *Wayne Gretzky 17 *Mario Lemieux 14 *Ray Bourque 13 Frank Mahovlich 12 *Mark Messier Pierre Turgeon 11 Adam Oates *Joe Sakic

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* indicates player selected or voted to play this season. Sakic is injured and won’t play.