Kai Uchacz, captain of the Red Deer Rebels. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

"treat people how you want to be treated

“Sincerely sorry,” Rebels new captain looks to turn racist incident into positive culture change

Oct 4, 2023 | 5:08 PM

Kai Uchacz, the new captain of the Red Deer Rebels, says if Mekai Sanders was standing in front of him, he’d offer a sincere apology.

That is for a racist incident which took place during the 2020-21 WHL season. Facts that previously came to light indicate the occurrence included taunts involving a banana, and a racial slur hurled at a Black teammate of Uchacz’s while with the Seattle Thunderbirds as a 17-year-old. A third player was also a culprit in the matter.

Uchacz, a 50-goal scorer one season ago, was announced as the Rebels’ new captain on Sept. 29, replacing the recently turned-pro Jayden Grubbe.

Uchacz isn’t sweating the backlash the club’s received in the wake of the announcement, and he’s insistent that he’s done a lot of growing over the last couple years.

Meanwhile on Twitter, hundreds of critical replies flooded the team’s mentions, while over on Facebook, interestingly, the comments section was largely the opposite.

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Sanders, still with the Thunderbirds, declined through a team spokesperson rdnewsNOW’s offer to speak about the captaincy news involving Uchacz.

For Uchacz, his mistake led to a suspension, which led to the league mandating him to complete certain training if he wanted to be reinstated. Mid-suspension, he was traded to Red Deer, and he started playing for the Rebels in fall 2021.

“Teammates, family and friends have kind of said don’t worry about it, stay true to myself, and just know that I’ve done what I can to be a better person. I don’t let the social media comments get to me or bring me down,” Uchacz told rdnewsNOW Wednesday.

“The biggest thing I took away from everything is how your actions and words truly have an effect on others.”

Uchacz elaborated, harkening back to the incident.

“[When it happened], it was more in a joking setting. My intent was just to joke around. I didn’t realize the harm it had on the person at the time. It’s something I’ve learned a lot from and something I continue to learn more about each day.”

Uchacz’s mandated training was done through the WHL Diversity Coaching Program, as well as Shades of Humanity Consulting. The latter is based in Calgary and, according to its LinkedIn profile, it provides personalized and customized dialogue facilitation on race and race relations with the goal of creating an anti-racist society.

Since the mandated training, Uchacz has made numerous trips to Red Deer-area schools to give talks about bullying, incorporating messaging about racism, he says.

The 20-year-old, who went unselected at the 2023 NHL Draft, says his message to students is to, “Treat people how you want to be treated. It’s something I heard growing up and was taught in school, but [it’s another level] to truly understand what your words mean. If I put myself in his shoes, how would it have made me feel? I want to be a role model for kids, and to try and make sure they don’t make a similar mistake.”

Uchacz recently began speaking with another professional in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) space, saying he’s taking time to learn more about himself, including his past.

“At the time, I didn’t realize the joke I was making, how it actually did impact my teammate there. Growing up and the way I was raised by my family, I’m not a racist person. It’s just the joke that did come across happened to be a racist joke,” he continues.

“But for me growing from that day on, I just, for me, it’s been all about growth and how I’ve been able to bounce back and really understand how those jokes and words are not appropriate.”

While still in Seattle, Uchacz wrote two apology letters, one each to Sanders and the Thunderbirds. Once in Red Deer, he tried reaching Sanders again, but to no avail. Then he contacted the Thunderbirds’ captain last season when the Rebels were on a U.S. Division road trip.

Uchacz received boos from the Seattle crowd the night they played, and the two never connected.

Before the playoffs last season, which Seattle won, Uchacz reached out to Sanders again with an apology through text.

“I just said sorry, and that I was working on myself still, and ended off with by wishing him good luck in the playoffs.”

Uchacz hasn’t heard back from Sanders, something well within Sanders’ right.

“I hope one day I can maybe see him in person again. If he’d be willing, I’d just kind of like to give him a handshake and show him how truly, sincerely sorry I am for what happened — and to his family. I want to show I’ve grown up and learned about myself and learned a lot about this world. That’s something I look forward to.”

In a post to X (formerly Twitter) on Sept. 29, Scott Norton, the agent for Mekai Sanders, reacted to the news of Uchacz becoming captain, saying, “Unfortunately it’s another case of a club/league being tone deaf to the issues of the world! Racism has no place in the world!”

Meantime, ‘hockey culture’ continues to be on the hot seat.

The WHL alone, and in just the last month, has dealt with backlash after Lethbridge’s hiring of Bill Peters, while Wenatchee Wild head coach Kevin Constantine is currently suspended after a complaint alleging his conduct violated league regulations and policies.

These events are not directly linked to what happened with Uchacz — save for it’s known one of them is linked to racism — but they are part of a much larger conversation about said hockey culture.

“I’m a big advocate for improving hockey culture. As I grow and learn and move forward with my hockey career and life … I hope I can speak for the league maybe at one point or just elsewhere in the community, to be that role model and share my knowledge and my story and kind of turn it into a positive thing,” says Uchacz. “I think what happened was really negative, yes, and there’s been a lot of negative from it, but for me, all I can do now is keep moving forward, keep learning, keep growing and trying to turn all of this into something positive for everyone out there.”

Uchacz noted too that he has the support of teammates, plus Rebels General Manager Brent Sutter, who had this to say in a statement last Friday:

“He [Uchacz] made a mistake a few years back, and has owned that mistake fully. That is not lost on us. He was rightfully disciplined at the time by Seattle, and worked hard both on a league-mandated program, as well as on his own, to better understand and learn from his actions. In his time in Red Deer, he has taken every opportunity to engage in the community, and will continue speaking to school classes this season.”

The Rebels say all players and team staff are required to complete the WHL Respect in Hockey course before each season, and must agree to abide by the WHL Standard of Conduct. During training camp, all team members also attend a presentation on the team code of conduct, which is virtually identical to the league’s.

In August 2022, WHL Commissioner Ron Robison, announced enhancements to the WHL’s Respect in Hockey and Security Network programs.

Robison would say, “For over 20 years the WHL has partnered with leading organizations in the respect field such as the Respect Group and the Canadian Red Cross and we remain fully committed to educating our entire WHL community on the prevention of any form of maltreatment.”

READ MORE

• Uchacz becomes captain as Rebels announce new leadership group
• Rebels’ latest trade acquisition continuing anti-racism & diversity training