Teammates baited the NHL star for the wrong origin. And is he still a “Nazi”?

Hockey is a very brutal sport. And while the North American leagues do their best to look progressive, there is room for stern conservatism there too. Many players, for example, face real bullying at different stages of their career overseas. But they remain silent, afraid to wash dirty linen in public.

Fortunately, the situation has begun to change in recent years. Hockey players began to talk about their problems, and management and coaches began to fight bullying and discrimination in their teams.

Recently, the famous goalkeeper, with whom Alexander Ovechkin won the Stanley Cup, also spoke about his story.

The future NHL star was insulted by the whole team!

“They called me a Nazi”

Seattle Kraken goaltender Philip Grubauer has a rich history in the NHL. Behind him are more than ten seasons in the overseas league and one Stanley Cup won with Alexander Ovechkin. He was also nominated for the Vezina Trophy best goalkeeper award, entering the top three of the strongest goalkeepers of the 2020/21 season.

Philipp Grubauer / Photo: © Graham Hughes / Keystone Press Agency / Global Look Press

But all these victories might not have happened if, in the early stages of his career, the player could not withstand the psychological pressure from teammates. From 2009 to 2011, the athlete played in the Canadian Hockey League. It was during this interval that the real trouble happened to the hockey player.

Only at the age of 30, when Grubauer played many seasons in the NHL and became popular on both sides of the ocean, did he talk about the persecution he faced at home:

They spoke the “N” word. They called me a Nazi and no one could stand up for me. A lot of the players who wanted to help me were just scared because, like 20 other guys, they thought it was normal. The offenders constantly called me that, and I did not know what to do in this situation. If someone opposed this, then 20 other guys could choose this person as a target for harassment, – shared Philip.

Explaining the actions of teammates is easy. Philip, as you might guess by his last name, was born and raised in Germany. But at a fairly young age, he moved to North America, where he began to play in the junior teams of the Canadian Hockey League.

Grubauer admits, however, that today the atmosphere in hockey teams has become healthier. Players often gather in a friendly atmosphere and do not hesitate to express their own opinion on a particular account. And the attitude towards all sorts of discriminatory statements has also changed a lot: now such antics are not hushed up, but eradicated.