Reaves, Seguin among players to kneel for U.S., Canadian anthems
Members of the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars made a statement prior to their round-robin tilt Monday, as Ryan Reaves and Robin Lehner of Vegas and Tyler Seguin and Jason Dickinson of Dallas knelt for both the U.S. and Canadian national anthems.
Ryan Reaves, Robin Lehner, Tyler Seguin, and Jason Dickinson all took a knee for the U.S. & Canadian national anthems ahead of the @DallasStars vs. @GoldenKnights game. pic.twitter.com/0fm8sOCpxB
- Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 3, 2020
Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba became the first NHL player to kneel for the U.S. anthem Saturday following his speech calling for action regarding racial injustice. Dumba stood and raised his fist for both anthems on Sunday prior to Game 1 of his club's series versus the Vancouver Canucks.
Dumba was also one of four minority players from the Wild and Colorado Avalanche to stand with their hands on each other's shoulders prior to their exhibition tilt on July 29.
Reaves and Lehner decided together that they were going to kneel. Reaves told Seguin during warmup, which prompted the Stars forward to inform his teammates, according to Stephen Whyno of The Associated Press.
"I obviously told everyone there's absolutely no pressure to do anything, and Dickinson grabbed me and said he'd like to be a part of it to support his beliefs and my beliefs to support me as a teammate," Seguin said.
"Definitely being two white guys, to do what we did, I wanted to be a part of this movement if there was opportunity," he added.
Lehner made headlines in 2016 after placing a decal on his mask that read "TRUMP" accompanied by an image of the president. He said postgame that he regrets the decision but insisted his display of solidarity is not about politics.
"I made a mistake once, putting a Trump sticker on my mask," he said, according to The Athletic's Jesse Granger. "That is something I regret now ... At the end of the day, it's about human rights, not politics."
Copyright (C) 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.