Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Talking Religion In The NHL

04/05/2015 at 8:16am EDT

from Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe,

He used to keep it hidden. Even many of his teammates — those Adam McQuaid spent years playing with, protecting, avenging — didn’t know. He only recently reached the point that when asked what he has done on unencumbered Sundays, he mentions church.

He used to leave that out.

There were hints: the cross dangling from a chain around his neck, the black rubber encircling his wrist with “I am second” in white. He said little about it, even as he drew closer to his religion in recent seasons as illness and injuries interfered with his career.

“I know that there’s other guys on the team that do the same thing,” McQuaid said. “I’ve kind of come to a point where if someone’s going to ask me, I’m going to be honest.”

While spirituality is on display in other professional sports — with pitchers’ fingers pointing skyward, tattooed crosses adorning NBA arms, words of divine praise in postgame sideline interviews — that’s not the case in hockey. In the NHL, religion is mostly omitted from the conversation, God left unsaid.

Now McQuaid is saying it, softly, hesitatingly: faith.

continued

Create an Account

In order to leave a comment, please create an account.

About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

Email Paul anytime at [email protected]

Most Recent Posts

Most Recent Comments

Comment by TreKronor in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Still In It For Bubble Teams In The East - 22 minutes ago
Comment by EthrDemon in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Still In It For Bubble Teams In The East - 6 hours ago
Comment by Steeb in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Still In It For Bubble Teams In The East - 7 hours ago