Air Canada Threatening to Pull NHL Sponsorship Due to Zdeno Chara's Hit on Max Pacioretty

Air Canada Threatening to Pull NHL Sponsorship Due to Zdeno Chara’s Hit on Max Pacioretty

by Michael Hurley on Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 11:34AM

Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty is “disgusted” with the NHL for not suspending Zdeno Chara. So, too, is Air Canada.

According to the Ottawa Sun, the airline is so miffed that it is threatening to pull its sponsorship with the league … via “a strongly worded letter.”

“We are contacting you to voice our concern over [the] incident involving Max Pacioretty and Zdeno Chara at the Bell Centre in Montreal,” wrote Denis Vandal, Air Canada’s director of marketing and communication, the Sun reports. “This is following several other incidents involving career-threatening and life-threatening headshots in the NHL recently. From a corporate social responsibility standpoint, it is becoming increasingly difficult to associate our brand with sports events which could lead to serious and irresponsible accidents; action must be taken by the NHL before we are encountered with a fatality.

“Unless the NHL takes immediate action with serious suspension to the players in question to curtail these life-threatening injuries, Air Canada will withdraw its sponsorship of hockey.”

The NHL considers the matter closed.

“We referred them to our public statement,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told QMI Agency in an e-mail on Thursday, according to the Sun. “We have no intention of engaging with them further at this point.”

The airline’s stance is certainly an interesting one, as someone who needs to fly from Toronto to Vancouver probably wouldn’t think, “Does my airline support violent headshots in the NHL?” before boarding. The airline also is somewhat tied to the Air Canada Centre, where the Toronto Maple Leafs play their ice hockey.

But hey, at least Air Canada is sending out strongly worded letters. That’ll show ‘em.

Photo of the day

Do you support Air Canada’s protest, or is it a bit over the top? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Quote of the day

“No one died. We just lost a game. We’re good.”
–Celtics coach Doc Rivers, keeping things in perspective after losing to the Clippers

Comment of the day

I didn’t read this comment, but I’m so impressed with its length and depth, that I believe it deserves the spotlight.

“Are you nuts? Im not going through all of the problems i have with your list of players you think need to be moved on, i will just say your list includes players who have real ability & who have been big performers for us. It includes young players with great potential who are still developing, and it includes new players who have barely even started their Liverpool careers. Anyone with an eye for a player or understanding of the game can already see that Suarez is a gem of a player, he’s barely arrived, is still short of full match fitness, but he’s hit the ground running and shown real class & ability in every aspect of his game. Carroll is relatively untried at the top level but he has progressed rapidly, a number of top people in the game are convinced he has the ability to become a real force for club and country, he’s got all the physical attributes needed to be a quality CF, he’s got fantastic aerial ability & is deceptively good with the ball at his feet too. And yet you feel all these players have to go? There are ‘some’ on your list that should be moved on, but you have also selected some very good footballers & that blows your credibility out of the water. I suspect most supporters would agree with me & i know Kenny would. You sound like you fell for Hodgsons stream of excuses about the players he had to work with. Kenny said this squad has genuine quality and he was right, it has been underinvested in during recent years & a number of clubs have improved while we have stood still for too long. We lack depth and are in need of recruitment in some key areas but this squad isnt nearly as bad as you seem to believe. This team needs 6 players of real quality in our priority areas to really compete, and that is a long way from the almost total overhaul you seem to think is needed.——————————————————————- DC, no problem. Were lucky in the UK because we get LFCTV and that shows academy and reserve games, has some other good shows too, match reviews with former players, quiz shows, goal montages etc. You’d have to pay for the online version but you get live 1st team match coverage which isnt included on the cable tv channel, it also has reserve games etc, think it’s about £45 a year. i try to make it down to some of the youth and reserve games too and give them a bit of support. It’s the best crop of youth and reserve players that i can remember the club having, the overall quality is so much better than it was even 5-10 years ago & we’ve got Rafa to thank for that, he gave the academy an almost total overhaul in staff and recruitment policy as well as forging closer links with Melwood. Kenny has applauded those changes and has carried them on, hopefully we’ll see some of those lads step up in the next few years and cement a first team place. Im going down to watch them play utd in the fa youth cup in a few days at Anfield, hope we stuff them.”
–AnthonyLFC

Tweet of the day

Baseball — particularly Red Sox baseball — is great in that meaningless scrimmages get millions of people excited in March. Think of it as a good appetizer.