The entire saga surrounding former hockey player Ben Johnson appears to have reached its predictable conclusion today, after the ECHL’s Allen Americans released him from the contract he signed yesterday. Thanks to the intense wave of public backlash, Americans appear to have reconsidered their statements about “second chances” for Johnson, a convicted rapist who served time in prison for his crimes in Canada, as he is once again a free agent. I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog explaining why some people seem to get them, but the pictured Ben Johnson and his wife, Kate, are quickly erasing any chance of him having a professional hockey career again.First, we go back to 2013, where then-Windsor Spitfires player Ben Johnson was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old and a 20-year-old in two separate alleged incidents. According to reports“Windsor Police say the 16-year-old victim has identified the suspect and say the alleged assault occurred during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at a downtown establishment in the ladies’ room.” Johnson denied the allegations made against him, and the trial was scheduled to take place in Windsor, Ontario in 2016.
During that 2016 trial said[t]The complainant testified that she did not consent and the Crown argued that she was so intoxicated that she was incapable of consenting,” while Judge Kirk Munroe, before sentencing, told the then 22-year-old Johnson that “he found Johnson’s testimony ‘incredible’ based on evidence provided by a sexual assault nurse and multiple witnesses in the bar.” Johnson allegedly forced oral and vaginal sex on the woman, leaving the girl bruised and vaginally bleeding after the encounter.
“You violated her. You injured her both physically and mentally,” Judge Kirk Munroe said said the former Windsor Spitfire during his sentencing. It was ‘violent and criminal’.
Judge Munroe ultimately sentenced Ben Johnson to three years in prison, noting in his sentencing that despite “all that Johnson has in store for him” – citing his age, this crime being his first conviction, his work ethic and the support he received from his family and community: “[t]The weight to be given to this is reduced by the nature of the crime.” To balance the scales of justice, Judge Munroe also added: “This sentence is not intended to seek revenge.”
Johnson appealed the ruling, as “prominent Toronto lawyer James Lockyer” stated that “[t]The judge made a mistake… by wrongly finding a fabrication,” but the… appeal was rejected. As a result, Johnson was forced to serve his sentence, spending a month in jail in Windsor and 12 months in prison in Kingston, Ontario.
To summarize the above, Johnson committed a violent crime against a non-consenting woman, was charged and found guilty of that crime, appealed that crime and had that appeal dismissed by a court, and ultimately spent 13 months in Canadian prisons for his crime. He also had to register as a sex offender in Canada, but I should note that Canada and the United States do not share sex offender registries, which is convenient for Johnson since he is back living in his native US.
He has tried to restart his career a few times in recent years. He played 104 games with the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones, 53 games with the Kansas City Monarchs and the past three seasons with teams in Slovakia, where he once again tried to find some sort of hockey career. The ECHL’s Adirondack Thunder signed him on November 18, received a ton of public backlash, and released him less than 24 hours later. Then he continued told Mark Falkner about it The Detroit News on December 19 that he had “learned lessons the hard way” and was looking for a second chance to play in the National Hockey League, which oddly enough has teams on both sides of the border.
Johnson claims he rediscovered his faith while in a prison cell in Windsor. He told Falkner about his experience, saying:
“I was crying uncontrollably and thinking, ‘What is going on in my life?’ Then I saw a book on the floor and the cover said, “Salvation.” I started reading Genesis 37 and suddenly I really understood that this book is alive and powerful. … I know that God speaks directly to my soul in this book.”
Allow me to be a bit editorial here, but part of my disbelief in this whole story is that it usually involves an act of confession and repentance for one’s sins, and it seems like Johnson missed that part. This is a man who still denies the conviction imposed on him and who calls the events of the night of his crime “things that would have happened” in his story to Falkner. If he’s looking for a second chance, he’ll have to answer for his actions at some point.I talk a lot about earning second chances, and I truly believe this applies in life. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression, and the public became aware of Ben Johnson through the details of his crimes during his trial, in which he was convicted of raping a woman. That’s the public’s first impression of him, and he’ll have to carry that label forever until he takes responsibility for his actions, shows growth through tangible learning and real change, and keeps his mouth shut about the opportunities he thinks he deserves. You don’t get second chances, Ben, if you don’t deserve them. It really is that simple.
This whole ordeal now makes me question the vetting that US general manager Steve Martinson did when it came to signing Johnson. Martinson talked about giving second chancessaying,
“Since Ben’s incident when he was 18 years old, he has become a man of faith, a husband and father of two children,” Martinson said in a statement.
“The easiest thing for us would be not to sign this player, but we believe in second chances and we believe Ben is a man who wants to use his situation as a learning opportunity for others.
“During his time with both the Kansas City Mavericks and the Cincinnati Cyclones in our league, Ben was considered a good teammate and someone who turned his life around.”
Using hearsay as a justification for a second chance is hardly the evidence Martinson should be looking for in this case. Yes, Johnson is married with children, but he was also married during the trial when he was convicted. How does that change anything when it comes to accountability, demonstrating change, and being a better person?
Of course, his chances of ever being contacted by an NHL team likely took a serious hit when he wrote on Instagram last week, “When I look at the NHL, I see a league that has the image of unity and all-inclusive, but when I peek beneath the surface, I actually see a league that is pro-cancellation and pro-silencing.”
Before I get too pious, let me remind Mr. Johnson that all five men in the 2018 Hockey Canada draft are currently playing professional hockey somewhere. I would remind him that Dino Ciccarelli, Geoff Courtnall, Neil Sheehy and Scott Stevens all went on to long careers in the NHL after being accused of raping a 17-year-old in a limousine. I would like to remind him that Reid Boucher is still playing in the KHL after assaulting a 12 year old girl as a 17 year old. I would like to remind him that Evander Kane is still playing in the NHL after being accused of sexual assault. Twice. And there are more.
The NHL has no problem with ‘cancel pro and shut down pro’; it has a “do whatever it takes to win” problem. If Johnson were to do the work of educating himself about the crime he committed and taking accountability for his actions, I would give him a little leeway and say that the NHL has a cancel culture when it comes to inclusivity. The NHL canceled Pride Nights because a few players spoke out. Now there are no Pride Nights. There is no rainbow tape.
They were canceled even though the NHL tried understand each molecule’s momentum from the TV show Heated rivalry with two gay hockey players. The NHL isn’t going to come right out and tell you that this show might help bring in fans they alienated with their short-sightedness, but this “image of unity and all-inclusive” that Johnson sees is about as far from the truth as it can get.
Frankly, the Allen-Americans stepped into a deep vat of manure when they signed Johnson, because the backlash the Adirondack Thunder got a month earlier should have been all the reasons they should have avoided signing Johnson. For whatever reason he may try to rationalize, American GM Steve Martinson wore his hip boots in that vat of manure, and they deserved every bit of adversity they got. Terminating the contract 24 hours later was the right move, but it won’t wash the stench off the Americans or Martinson. That will now take a considerable amount of time.
As for Johnson, take your baggage and your whining about cancel culture elsewhere. You’re a 31-year-old convicted rapist. You are not a pariah that the hockey world focuses on. Any efforts to change that impression have been made a lot more difficult by the whining about cancel culture, while many men accused of rape and/or sexual assault are playing professional hockey.
The difference between those players and you? You’re convicted, Ben Johnson. In that case your appeal has been rejected. Now the second chances will have all but dried up with this latest outburst on social media, and you have only one person to blame for that.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
#chance #walk