Is USA Hockey looking at a Penn State-esque controversy? It is Possible

You don’t have to be a Penn State fan, nor a football fan – heck even a sports fan – to know about what went down at Penn State; is USA Hockey looking at something similar?

I woke this morning to a story by Stepheh Heisler over at JuniorHockey.com that calls into question whether or not USA Hockey’s Executive Director Dave Ogrean should resign.

According to this piece the father of a player from the Massachusetts Maple Leafs emailed Ogrean back in Janurary of 2011 describing what Heisler calls “extremely deviant sexual behavior” that Maple Leafs coach Anthony DeSilva had towards his (at the time) 18 year old son.

Now here is where I have a slight issue. If the player was 18 at the time you can not throw around the child predator aspect as he is an adult; however, just because someone is 18 it does not mean they are unable to be abused. My issue is that for some reason our society has massive outrage for those that abuse children (as they should) but not for those after they turn 18. Why is it at 18 to the masses it doesn’t matter anymore?

Anyway that is an issue for another day – back to the topic at hand with USA Hockey and Ogrean.USA Hockey did launch and investigation; and encouraged the parents to go to the police if they felt the allegations by their son were true. According to Heisler’s piece the parents never went to the authorities.

So is this USA Hockey’s fault?

ESHL Commissioner Andrew Richards was selected to conduct the investigation into DeSilva; however, he was never allowed to even speak with the player himself.”We did what we could. We’re not a legal society,” Says Richards.

USA Hockey appears to now be playing a game of hot potato. Fischer claims that the national office passed the information onto the ESHL and the ESHL’s Richards is saying that he was getting direction from USA Hockey and the Junior Council.

The question is who is to blame for a lack of “results” to this matter? Is Ogrean for allowing DeSilva to remain on the bench? Is Richards responsible because he conducted the investication? What about the parents that knew but did not take it to the police?

What happened at Penn State has left everyone outraged; but shouldn’t all sports organizations be them collegiate, local, or national governing bodies be held to the same standards?

Polk County (Fl.) Sheriff Grady Judd agrees that Ogrean and USA Hockey mishandled the situation. “They don’t want the bad press, and it’s not uncommon for organizations to suppress information,” the outspoken sheriff told us Monday. “We see it over and over that these situations, the Catholic Church, Penn State, everyone has had these same issues and it is very embarrassing for the groups.”

“Going after sexual predators is a difficult task because it’s the silent crime and the kids are embarrassed,” Grady concluded. “A lot of law enforcement agencies go out of their way avoid these cases and in reality, we all need to work together to protect the victims.”USA Hockey appears to now be playing a game of hot potato. Fischer claims that the national office passed the information onto the ESHL and the ESHL’s Richards is saying that he was getting direction from USA Hockey and the Junior Council.

WAIT?!?! Law enforcement goes out of their way to avoid these cases? What is going on in this world? If the police are not contacted how are they to investigate?

There is a lot of passing off who is to blame here and honestly until matters are sorted out I feel those involved should step down from their positions with USA Hockey.