Hockey Thread 2021 Season

Wayne Gretzky gives a heartfelt reading & shares fond memories while reflecting on the life of his father, Walter Gretzky.

Former Rangers captain Barry Beck, in a blistering Facebook post, said the team and USA hockey were “accountable” for the death of Mark Pavelich because they did not support the “Miracle on Ice” star as he battled mental illness.

Pavelich, who played five of those seasons with the Rangers, died Thursday at a mental health treatment facility in central Minnesota, and Beck is among those who believe his condition was related to head injuries suffered during a seven-year NHL career.

Beck also took aim at the NHL, which he called “cowards” for avoiding conversations about the physical sport’s lasting impact on the brain, hours after officials announced Friday that his 63-year-old former teammate had been found dead.

The cause of death is under investigation.

In the 946-word post, a heartbroken Beck rebuked team president John Davidson, also his former teammate, for not returning an email asking the Rangers to “publicaly show their support for Mark by just saying one of their own former players was sick and we wish him well.”

But The Post learned Davidson had been in constant contact with former Rangers netminder and current president of the NHL alumni association Glenn Healy regarding Pavelich. In the Facebook post, Beck credited Healy and the alumni association for becoming “involved” with Pavelich.

“Well JD did not even return my email. I guess he was too [f—ing] busy,” wrote Beck, a Rangers defenseman from 1979-86. “He should have picked up the phone and called me. That would have been the right thing to do as we were teammates and he certainly would have my back right?

“You’re on your throne now John but if our paths ever cross you better be ready. Or maybe just turn your back again.”

The Rangers, who declined to comment on Beck’s post, said in a statement Friday that they were “saddened” to learn of the passing of Pavelich, a 5-foot-8 hard-nosed, skilled center who spent five seasons with the organization from 1981-86 after playing a key role in the United States’ stunning gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics.

USA hockey and the NHL sent out similar statements. Neither immediately responded to requests for comment in light of Beck’s post.

“The Rangers and USA hockey are accountable for Marks death,” Beck wrote. “The NHL has to grow a set of balls and take action.”

Pavelich was undergoing treatment at the facility as part of a civil commitment for assaulting a neighbor in August 2019. Pavelich was charged with felony assault, but was found incompetent to stand trial because he was deemed by the judge to have a mental illness and dangerous.

Beck wrote that Pavelich’s sister, Jean Gevik, believed the Eveleth, Minn., native suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease often found in hockey and football players. It is associated with depression, memory loss and dementia and can only be diagnosed after death.

“Mark is the most kind and gentle person you’d ever know,” Gevik previously told the Star Tribune, but that he had turned into a “totally different guy” over the years.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has previously said that the “relationship between concussions and the asserted clinical symptoms of CTE remains unknown,” even as several other deceased players were found to have had the disease.

In 2016, the league settled an $18.9 million lawsuit with 302 retired players who claimed the NHL failed to protect them from head injuries or warn them of the risks involved with playing.

“Now not one NHL team will discuss CTE or any of their players, staff or employees,” wrote the 63-year-old Beck, who once told The Washington Post that he experiences depression as a result of concussions sustained in hockey. “After the CTE lawsuit the NHL was just happy they didn’t have to discuss it anymore. They told teams under no circumstances shall any team discuss CTE the shrinkage of the brain. Not even the stick boy.

“They don’t discuss it because their cowards. The only thing that matters to them is money.”

Following Pavelich’s arrest, Beck wrote that he “immediately contacted his sister Jean to see how I could help. I asked her ‘has anyone from the Rangers or USA hockey contacted you yet to offer their support?’ No one called and still to this day no one called. Who the f&$k do these people think they are? They better not send their condolences now because they missed the boat. If they do I’ll chew them up from one end to the other.

“USA hockey you can throw them in the same boat as the Rangers,” Beck wrote. Wouldn’t respond to help Mark. A [f–-king] American hero!! You stupid MF’S!

Beck, who is coaching in Hong Kong, wrote that he was “deeply saddened, shocked and overcome with grief” upon hearing of Pavelich’s death.

The two spoke recently. Pavelich consoled Beck after his 20-year-old son, Brock, was killed, local police said, in a road rage stabbing in July in Ontario, Canada.

“Climbing one big mountain to overcome my sons death is a difficult task. Now I have two mountains to climb,” Beck wrote. “Well I’m ready to climb for Mark now.”

Place your bets!

11 points in 14 games is good right?

www.nhl.com/player/joe-thornton-8466138

What happened here, I can't see where he was injured

Joe Pavelski since joining the Dallas Stars

Goals     27   1st

PPGoals  16   1st

GW Goals 5   T-2nd

Points     55  1st


Hey kids, let's sign EK65

I may have to go there and troll there.

OK but don’t say I didn’t warn you ...