There's passion, and then there's crossing the line. And what happened to Kirby Dach and his girlfriend after last night's playoff game? That's not passion - that's toxicity that has no place in sports.
The Montreal Canadiens forward and his girlfriend deleted their Instagram accounts after receiving threats and harassment following a poor playoff performance. Let me say that again: threats and harassment. Over a hockey game.
I've been around sports for 20 years, folks. I've seen passionate fans. I've seen angry fans. But death threats over one bad game? That's not being a fan - that's being a bully hiding behind a keyboard.
Dach had a rough night, no question about it. The Canadiens lost, and he didn't play well. That's sports. Players have bad games. Teams lose. It happens 41 times a year for half the teams in the league. You know what doesn't happen, or at least what shouldn't happen? Fans threatening violence against a player and his girlfriend.
This is the dark side of fan culture in the social media age. Players are more accessible than ever before. You can follow their lives, see their posts, send them messages. But somewhere along the way, some fans forgot that there's a human being on the other end of that account.
A human being who's trying their best. Who wants to win just as badly as you do. Who's probably harder on themselves after a bad game than you could ever be.
The fact that Dach's girlfriend also had to delete her account tells you how far this went. She didn't even play in the game! But the trolls and the harassers didn't care. They went after her too, because that's what cowards do.
The NHL and teams need to do better about this. They need to call it out publicly. They need to work with social media platforms to identify and ban these accounts. They need to make it clear that this behavior isn't just unacceptable - it's criminal.
Because let's be real: sending death threats isn't being a passionate fan. It's harassment. It's illegal. And it needs to stop.
Players sign up to be criticized for their performance. That comes with the job. You play badly, you're going to hear about it. But there's a massive difference between "Dach needs to play better" and sending threats to him and his girlfriend.
One is being a fan. The other is being a criminal.
