With other sports leagues canceling games in support of the protests against racial injustice reacting to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the National Hockey League has announced it will not play its playoff games scheduled for Thursday night and three Major League Baseball games have been canceled.
UPDATE (8:00 p.m.) Major League Baseball has canceled a total of ten games.
The growing movement is the latest action by professional athletes to raise awareness of racial injustice in policing, which started four years ago yesterday when Colin Kaepernick first took a knee during the playing of the National Anthem, a protest suggested by a former teammate who once served as a US Army Green Beret.
The NHL will reschedule its playoff series games during its reformatted season. The New York Islanders-Philadelphia Flyers and the Las Vegas Golden Knights-Vancouver Canucks games will be rescheduled to a date at the end of the series, if needed.
In addition, Major League Baseball announced the following games will be rescheduled in support of the protests:
- Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers (Wed.)
- Seattle Mariners at San Diego Padres (Wed.)
- Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants (Wed.)
- Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals (Thurs.)
- Oakland A’s at Texas Rangers (Thurs.)
- Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers (Thurs.)
- Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays (Thurs.)
- Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks (Thurs.)
- Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays (Thurs.)
- New York Mets at Miami Marlins (Thurs.)
Besides the canceled games, a number of players will sit out games that are being played, in individual exhibitions of support.