After losing to the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night 3-1, Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith was pretty annoyed with a female reporter. The play she is referring to is in the video above, where Keith takes a solid whack at Daniel Sedin following his goal.
The reporter Keith was annoyed with was Karen Thomson, a reporter for Team 1040 in Vancouver. Chicago Tribune reporter Chris Kuc has provided a transcript of their conversation, and the audio can be heard here:
Thomson: “Can you talk about what happened after the Daniel Sedin goal?”
Keith: “Which one was that one?
Thomson: “The third goal.”
Keith: “The third one? Well, we scored one goal after that I think and the game ended 3-1.”
Thomson: “Right after the goal when you were on the ice with Daniel. Right after he scored. You remember?”
Keith: “I went off the ice and took a minus. I don’t know. What are you talking about?”
Thomson: “Nothing. Just checking.”
Keith: “What did you see?”
Thomson: “It looked like maybe there was a penalty that went undetected. You seemed a bit frustrated.”
Keith: “Oh, no. I don’t think there was anything. I think he scored a nice goal. The ref was right there. That’s what the ref saw. We should get you as a ref maybe, eh?”
Thomson: “Yeah, maybe.”
Keith: The first female … ”
Thomson: “I can’t skate, though.”
Keith: “The first female referee. You can’t play probably either, right? But you’re thinking the game like you know it? Okay, see ya.”
He makes a sarcastic comment towards her and all of the other reporters that talk about games like they know what’s going on, when they haven’t even played it themselves. I can understand his frustration after a loss, but some people will probably not be pleased with him bringing up the “first female ref” part. He’ll take some heat for his comments being sexist, which I don’t agree with. Yes, bringing up her gender was unnecessary, but I don’t think he was saying she doesn’t know anything about hockey because she is a woman. I think he was saying she doesn’t know anything about hockey because she is a reporter that hasn’t played the game before. The comment, while demeaning, wasn’t meant to be sexist in my opinion.
Karen had her own response to the incident on Twitter:
So I think my exchange with Duncan Keith is renewing the #Canucks #Blackhawks rivalry! Lol #heldmyown
— Karen Thomson (@KjtKaren) April 23, 2013
Since she didn’t seem to take it as sexist and wasn’t offended by it, I don’t think anyone else should be either.
