On Tuesday, one “journalist” decided to stand on his soapbox and use Zach Hyman, of all people, as a poster boy for his beef with other members of the media ignoring the fact that money, connections, and privilege play a role in many athlete’s progression from a young age to the professional ranks. Suggesting that Hyman’s 50-goal season is clouded because the media is choosing to leave out the unromantic part that Hyman’s family is rich, Andrew Berkshire posted a nearly four-minute video reprimanding other journalists.
He noted that the media as a whole needs to do a better job of telling the truth and says:
“You’re missing the part of the story where Zach Hyman grew up insanely rich, where his parents bought an entire league to guarantee him playing time, where he did exclusive training that only a rich person could afford with professional athletes his whole life.”
Berkshire takes a few seconds of the video to acknowledge that Hyman is a hard worker and scoring 50 goals is not easy. However, he quickly pivots and wipes out most, if not all of those compliments by saying that Hyman’s father bought an entire hockey league when he was young so that he could play more. He then contends that he was given every opportunity that only a kid with money could afford and then got extremely lucky because he’s played the entirety of his career with Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid.
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The insinuation is that hard work pays off is a lie. Instead, he says only a combination of hard work, along with privilege and lucky breaks will allow for success at a high level. He added, “…then, then maybe your hard work will get you to where Zach Hyman got.”
It’s not clear why Berkshire decided to target Hyman while making his argument, but fans all over social media have their theories.
The Hockey World Reacts to Berkshire’s Comments
It didn’t take long for Berkshire’s post to blow up. And, while a small minority of people agreed, the vast majority concluded the take was not just off base, but had a sense of malice to it. Below are just a few of the responses. (there are literally hundreds of others from respected hockey people).
Ryan Whitney writes, “I’ve never seen hockey Twitter all agree on one thing until today when that doofus made a video about Zach Hyman scoring 50 goals because he got a Range Rover for his 16th birthday.” Scott Wheeler of The Athletic wrote, “Hyman’s upbringing/family background have been documented pretty extensively, so I’m not sure this is a great example of the media not telling “truthful stories,” as you allege.” Oilers’ journalist Derek van Diest wrote, “Incidentally, Zach Hyman is one of the classiest, most accommodating players I have ever dealt with. He deserves all the success he is currently achieving.”
Former NHL player Bobby Ryan noted:
As someone who has maybe lived on both ends of the “financial edge” I can say this is just purely false. Who cares, he accomplished a feat not many do and to downplay the way it’s reported is just wrong. You show up, do the work, good things happen. Only message.
Carlo Colaiacovo wrote, “Let me tell you something Andrew. You can’t buy your way to the NHL. You definitely can’t buy your way to having the career Hyman has had which includes scoring 50. Pretty ridiculous thing to say.”
Even Hyman’s personal trainer as he was growing up commented. He noted:
“I was Hyman’s personal trainer when he was in high school. My job was to prepare him for the NHL combine. Yes, he had advantages. His family was wealthy and father obsessed with his success. But the dude worked hard. Harder than anybody I’ve ever seen. I worked with a lot of wealthy high school athletes back then. All had every advantage. All were talented and primed to compete in professional sports or the Olympics. A few made the Olympics. But none have had the consistent drive that Hyman’s showcased for decades.”
Hyman Scored the Overtime Winner Versus the Jets
The silver lining of the video was that Hyman ironically shoved it in his face. He scored the overtime winner as the Oilers defeated the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Elliotte Friedman tweeted, “51 for Hyman, the OT winner against Winnipeg. Amazing what hard work can get you.” Jesse Pollock wrote, “Ahahahahahahahahaha Zach Hyman gets the OT winner. Only a man of serious privilege could have scored there.” Mark Spector added, “Zach Hyman. Suck it, whatsyername.”
It was the biggest F.U. to Berkshire anyone could have sent. The ironic part is, that Hyman is so nice, he probably wasn’t out to prove a point and didn’t even care. He never would have rubbed scoring the game-winner in anyone’s face.
** This is part one of a two-part post on the Berkshire video. If you want to know how I personally feel about this whole situation, head over to our THW Oilers Substack and get the rest of my unvarnished thoughts.”