(EDITOR’S NOTE: LVSportsBiz.com is re-publishing this story in light of today’s “March For Our Lives” event. This story was originally published Feb. 27, 2018.)
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Vegas Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault played last year in suburban Broward County for the NHL Florida Panthers and lived only 15 minutes from the high school where a killer armed with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle massacred 17 students and teachers in a South Florida high school last week.
The 27-year-old Marchessault, now anchored in Las Vegas with a six-year, $30 million contract, sat at his locker Thursday around mid-day and words failed him when he tried to explain why these mass shootings happen in U.S., from the Strip to Parkland, Fla.
“It’s terrible,” Marchessault said. “I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t know why people do it.”
It’s interesting that President Donald Trump wants to arm school teachers and staff with guns because Marchessault recalled going to his child’s pre-school in South Florida and seeing no fewer than four guards with guns.
Sadly, regrettably and tragically, Golden Knights players such as Marchessault know what it’s like to live a town devastated by a mass killer with semi-automatic rifles. The Golden Knights played their final preseason game against the San Jose Sharks Oct. 1 and completed the game only a few hours before a man used a Mandalay Bay hotel suite as a perch to kill 58 country music concert attendees and injure more than 500 others with a small arsenal of rifles and ammo.
Nine days later, the Golden Knights played their first regular season home game and staged an emotional pre-game ceremony at T-Mobile Arena to help not just fans but the entire Las Vegas community cope with the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting massacre.
The Golden Knights’ coach, Gerard Gallant, knows that part of northwest Broward County well because is the former coach of the Florida Panthers from 2014-16.
“It’s devastating to see what happened,” Gallant, a former South Floridian, said of the high school massacre in Parkland.
Generally speaking, the Golden Knights players are easy to talk with and sports writers are given access to them after practices for about 20 minutes or so at their suburban Summerlin training center.
I went over to the locker stall of defenseman Jon Merrill, an American-born (Oklahoma City) player and asked for his thoughts about the Parkland high school massacre after the Golden Knights grieved with the rest of Las Vegas after the Oct. 1 shooting massacre on the Strip.
Like so many Americans, Merrill had more questions than answers.
“As an American, when will enough be enough? Why do we have to go through these things? Why are these weapons for everyone? I don’t have the answers. It’s so frustrating,” said Merrill, a former New Jersey Devils player acquired in the expansion draft who signed a two-year extension with the Golden Knights worth $2.75 million.
He repeated that question again: “When will enough be enough?”
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Pro athletes have a platform to bring about change, and retired two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash wrote a commentary for The Players’ Tribune about the mass shooting murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
It takes guts to speak out when you’re a sports pro. NFL players who took a knee during the national anthem to protest racial inequality took verbal heat from some fans. Even NBA superstar LeBron James has to deal with verbal potshots like “shut up and dribble” comments from TV talking head Laura Ingraham.
Marchessault said the U.S. protects freedom of speech and “everybody has their opinion for sure.”
But if pro athletes speak out, “I don’t know if it would change much.”
Merrill said before speaking out, sports pros “have to be knowledgeable.”
Traditionally, NHL players are not known for tackling hot-button political issues. Former Tampa Bay Lightning player J.T. Brown, the son of a former NFL player, raised his fist during the national anthem before a preseason game in September and again during a regular season game in early October to raise awareness about racial injustice and police brutality. Later in October, Brown said he would no longer raise his fist. The Lightning placed Brown on waivers and the Anaheim Ducks claimed him Jan. 14.
After a gunman killed so many on the Strip Oct. 1, Golden Knights players supported locals by showing up at a blood donation center, honoring Oct. 1 first responders and medical personnel at games and donating money to help the shooting massacre victims.
“Our role is to be an outlet for everybody, to divert attention and give them happiness, ” Merrill said.
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