The Hockey Diversity Alliance has made a formal request to the NHL to suspend all Thursday playoff games, group co-head and San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane announced.
We the @TheOfficialHDA have formally requested the @NHL to suspend all playoff games today. We strongly feel this sends a clear message that human rights take priority over sports.
— Evander Kane (@evanderkane_9) August 27, 2020
There are two NHL playoff games scheduled for Thursday. The New York Islanders are set to face the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 3 of their second-round series at 7 p.m. ET, while the Vegas Golden Knights and Vancouver Canucks are scheduled to play the third game of their series at 9:45 p.m. ET. Both series are tied 1-1.
The NBA suspended all of its postseason games scheduled for Wednesday and has reportedly postponed all tilts scheduled for Thursday. Players from several teams refused to play Wednesday's contests after Rusten Sheskey, a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, several times in the back during an arrest Sunday. The NBA playoffs will reportedly resume Friday.
A handful of MLB teams also chose not to play Wednesday, though all three NHL playoff games went ahead as scheduled.
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