Vegas Golden Knights: Game 3 postponed as act of protest against police brutality

Game 3 between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Vancouver Canucks has been postponed.

Multiple reports over the last couple of hours have suggested that the NHL would cancel its two Stanley Cup Playoffs games tonight, including the Vegas Golden Knights’ matchup against the Canucks.

We have yet to receive official confirmation from the National Hockey League, but it appears certain that no hockey will be played tonight.

It comes in the wake of the Milwaukee Bucks boycotting their NBA game against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday following yet another act of police brutality in this country.

Players on the Bucks decided that action had to be taken and a strong message had to be sent after Jacob Blake was shot seven times by the police in Wisconsin over the weekend.

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The rest of the NBA games on the docket on Wednesday were then postponed, while multiple games in MLB were also postponed after players decided to stand together in solidarity.

Practices across the NFL were also canceled today, with teams such as the New York Jets, the Green Bay Packers and the Indianapolis Colts all deciding to take action.

The NHL, however, opted to play its slate of games last night which drew heavy criticism across the board on social media.

But, following a call between players in the bubble with San Jose Sharks forward and Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba, who are both founding members of The Hockey Diversity Alliance, the decision has been taken to postpone tonight’s two games.

And there are reports that the NHL is discussing the possibility of postponing games on Friday too,  with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Boston Bruins, the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars all set to be in action.

While some will see this as the NHL being a day late and reacting because they felt they had to, this is an important step for a league not known for being at the forefront of social issues.

This will be important to the Golden Knights too and we saw that in the round-robin game against the Dallas Stars when forward Ryan Reaves and goalie Robin Lehner took a knee alongside Tyler Seguin and Jason Dickinson of the Stars.

All four players made the decision before that game to kneel for the national anthem in an act of peaceful protest against police brutality and systemic racism.

It sparked a conversation in hockey that is, quite frankly, needed a hell of a lot more and today’s actions should help to continue those conversations.

More needs to be done when it comes to police brutality in this country and the NHL following in the footsteps of the other professional leagues by not playing is a start.

And it sounds as if though today’s actions were spearheaded by the players, who wanted to step up and take a stand.

The Canucks were actually the driving force behind the NHL not playing today, according to reports, and hopefully this is the start of the league taking a more active stance when it comes to using its signifiant platform to try and activate change in this country.

This also has to be the first step and it will be on the NHL to do more going forward to try and create further change.

There is no news on when Game 3 between the Golden Knights and the Vancouver Canucks might take place, but we’ll update you as and when there is.