An indispensable guide to parents of hockey hopefuls

At a time of great change in hockey, Justin Davis exposes the dark underbelly of the journey from the minors to the big leagues

Hockey culture: it’s a commonly used phrase inside the game, glorifying sacrifice, toughness, loyalty, and a sense of identity. Justin Davis viewed this culture as something he was lucky enough to experience. After all, he’d won a Memorial Cup after leading the tournament in scoring, and he’d been drafted by the Washington Capitals. “In my mind,” he says, “I was the normal one.” Unfortunately, after stepping outside the game, he began to recognize the racism, sexual abuse and bullying that was so deeply ingrained in the sport. And then, as his own children grew into teenagers, the curtain was pulled back, the memories came rushing forward, and he was horrified: “Why was I naked in a bus bathroom for four hours with seven teammates? What happened to my brain, and why can’t I remember the simplest things? How did I end up living in a basement where the strangers upstairs were clearly engaged in domestic abuse?”

As it navigates the sport’s darkest corridors, Conflicted Scars shares the story of the common Canadian player and offers a guide for parents who need to know how and why a typical teenager with NHL dreams, from a small town, now lives anxiously, introvertedly, and battling emotional detachment.

Sales and Market Bullets

• CONFRONTING A DIFFICULT TRUTH: The book started out as a private memoir for his kids, but soon Justin Davis realized that leaving home at 16, living in strangers’ homes, suffering injuries and depression, and participating in decades of hazing rituals wasn’t right. Soon, the memoir turned into a guide for parents with kids in hockey and an investigation of hockey’s struggles with diversity, sexual abuse, and systemic bullying.
• NEWS TOPIC: After former Chicago Blackhawks player Kyle Beach came forward with sexual assault allegations and their mishandling, there has been a call for more transparency and changes to hockey culture.
• INVOLVED MARKETING PLAN: Planned outreach to regional rinks, sports podcasts and influencers, parenting media outlets, sports radio, and youth hockey outlets.
• MANY ARE LOOKING FOR CHANGES IN THE SPORT: In June 2020, current and former members of the NHL created the Hockey Diversity Alliance to “eradicate racism and intolerance in hockey,” and in February 2021, Scotiabank announced a partnership with the HDA to further their collective mission.

Audience

• People involved in youth hockey leagues
• Readers of books like Home Ice by Angie Abdou (ECW Press, 2018), How We Did It by Karl Subban and Scott Colby (Penguin Random House, 2018), and Game Misconduct by Evan F. Moore and Jashvina Shah (Triumph Books, 2021)
• Hockey parents