Group After Ban on All Violence

“I have contact with junior hockey and NHL players and all of them are afraid to come out publicly,” Jaffe said. “They say (speaking out) will hurt their careers; they’ll be seen as chickens. There’s a code of silence. If you challenge the issue you’re going to be singled out.”

Jaffe wrote his letter to Bettman with Graham Pollett, London’s chief public health official, and Ray Hughes of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

A huge hockey fan, Jaffe says he has interviewed countless major-junior players and three NHLers who’ve expressed those anti-fighting feelings off the record.