Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean opened his segment Wednesday night (above) by comparing hockey players from the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers to 9/11 first responders.
The players were preparing for Game 6 of their Eastern Conference playoff series at Washington's Verizon Center, and MacLean, after pointing out the terrorist attacks on the two cities on Sept. 11, 2001, and saying it would be crazy to make a comparison, did so. "They are like police officers. They are like firefighters," he said. "You can't fight fire with ego."
Eventually, MacLean pulled away from the on-air analogy by saying of firefighters: "Our worst day is their everyday."
Thursday, MacLean, through CBC, issued the following clarification:
"Washington and New York. The two cities united by the tragedy of 9/11. I, like everyone on the planet in his or her lifetime, saw beyond the horror, the single greatest testament to the strength of the human spirit in the efforts of the first responders.
"We never know if we'll have that spirit. The bravery, the resilience. As I made clear, the hockey games in no way compare. However Sports has proven a worthy training ground in nurturing the qualities which beget that spirit. To say he plays like a firefighter or a policeman would instantly conjure the traits an athlete most desires, especially in New York and Washington. There could be no higher praise of a player, no greater choice of a role model .
"But as I said of first responders, 'Our worst day is their everyday'. They stand alone."
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