Jason Franson / The Canadian Press via AP
Dallas Stars’ Jason Dickinson (18), Tyler Seguin (91) and Golden Knights’ Ryan Reaves (75) and goalie Robin Lehner (90) take a knee during the national anthem prior to an NHL playoff game Monday, Aug. 3, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta.
Published Monday, Aug. 3, 2020 | 4:06 p.m.
Updated Monday, Aug. 3, 2020 | 8:15 p.m.
Robin Lehner approached Ryan Reaves and told him what he wanted to do, which Reaves welcomed. They were going to kneel during the national anthems prior to Monday night's game against the Dallas Stars.
Reaves said on Saturday the Golden Knights considered kneeling before their exhibition game Thursday, but instead locked arms during the anthems in order to not make any teammates uncomfortable. That was hours after Minnesota’s Matt Dumba took the ice before the Edmonton-Chicago game and delivered an impassioned speech against racism and became the first NHL player to kneel during the anthem.
In the two days since, no one had taken a knee — not until Reaves and Lehner. During warmups they told Stars alternate captain Tyler Seguin their plan, and Seguin relayed it to the Dallas room. Jason Dickinson wanted to join them.
All four took a knee during both the American and Canadian anthems ahead of Vegas’ 5-3 win in the postseason opener. For all of them, it was something they felt they needed to do to protest racial injustice, stressing it wasn’t about the flag or the military.
“Those people go across seas and they go to war and families are torn apart for those wars, for the freedom of his country, only to come back and find out this country isn’t free for everybody,” Reaves said. "And I think that’s where I’m coming from. Not everybody is truly free in this country.”
Teammate William Carrier said there wasn’t much of a conversation in the locker room about the decision of Lehner and Reaves, who went to coach Peter DeBoer and management to let them know of their plans and were told they had full support.
The battle for racial justice was reignited this summer when George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed in Minneapolis police custody. It sparked outrage and protests across the country, including in Las Vegas.
Kneeling during the anthem, meanwhile, has been a divisive issue in sports since former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first did so in 2016. The Black Lives Matter movement, joined by high-profile Black athletes, has included players in the NFL, NBA and MLB before welcoming the NHL on Saturday.
One opponent of kneeling is President Donald Trump, who has often shared his disdain for such actions, including in 2017 when he said he wishes an NFL owner who saw a player kneel would “get that son of a (expletive) off the field right now.”
In 2016, Lehner wore a sticker of then President-elect Trump on his goalie mask, and said he admired him. On Monday he said that was a mistake and that he regrets it. On May 21, Lehner shared a story on his Twitter feed of Akim Aliu, a former NHL player whose fight against racism in hockey dominated the conversation inside the sport. In response to that original tweet, Lehner said he no longer supported Trump politically.
“At the end of the day, this is not politics, this is human rights,” Lehner said. “Part of the conversation, everyone’s talking about conversation, education and listening, but it’s time to start doing something, not just let this be a news cycle, forget about it and do it all over again.”
Both Lehner and Reaves said they do not begrudge the other players who were on the ice for not kneeling. To have the Stars players' support was appreciated.
Seguin made news this summer when he attended a Black Lives Matter protest and said he was committed to educating himself on the issues. Dickinson, meanwhile, said he had been thinking about kneeling but didn’t want to do it alone. Once Seguin signaled his intentions, Dickinson was in.
“It was easy for me, easy decision,” Dickinson said. “I’ve been thinking about it since everything started if I would do that and you know what, I was probably nervous to think about doing it on my own. When (Seguin) said it, it was kind of a no-brainer for me that I wouldn’t be alone doing it. To support the cause and support my teammates, it was a no-brainer.”
Reaves said that while Dumba’s decision to kneel was not the spark that ignited him and Lehner, “You don’t want to leave him out to dry.”
“When you see one of your brothers do that, you want to support him, support the cause he’s fighting for if your missions aligned,” Reaves said. “I wouldn’t say he made the decision for us, but you definitely want to support people that have the same focus.”
And part of that was that it wasn’t just Reaves and Black players protesting the treatment of Black people in the country and elsewhere. Lehner’s wife is Persian. Dickinson’s uncle is Black. It was personal to them, and as white men with the built-in platform of being a hockey player, they wanted to make it so their voice was heard on this deeply sensitive issue, too.
“I love America but there’s a bunch of things that need to be corrected and I think they have the power to do so, it’s just about the willingness to do something about it,” Lehner said. “It’s time for whites to step into battle with our brothers and sisters and make some change, and stop talking about it and actually do something.”
Justin Emerson can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Justin on Twitter at twitter.com/@j15emerson.
