Hockey coach John Krupinsky of the Danbury Hat Tricks, who went viral last week for a video in which he told his players to respect the national anthem, condemned anti-American college students this week.
Assistant coach John Krupinsky of the Danbury Hat Tricks professional hockey team went viral over a pre-game speech in which he told his players to respect America’s national anthem.
Now, Krupinsky is using his voice to speak out about the anti-American sentiment on college campuses. In an interview with Campus Reform, Krupinsky blasted anti-American college students.
“This is crazy. You’re talking about college campuses! I get to spend a lot of time in our younger schools with 4th and 5th graders… tell me how a fourth-grader gets it that he’s supposed to stand at attention, put his hand over his heart and say the Pledge of Allegiance… and stand up for the National Anthem, but we lose it somewhere when we get to college? I don’t understand that.”
When asked what ignited his patriotic speech to his players, Krupinsky cited Nike’s decision to cancel a pair of shoes featuring the Betsy Ross flag and the U.S. Women’s soccer teams attacks on President Trump. “America kind of got kicked in the gut in a one week period. We were told we can’t fly a Betsy Ross flag, and I still have yet to hear an explanation as to why… then came our U.S. [Women’s] Team. It was all just kind of a catalyst that set me off,” he said.
The coach made an important distinction. He never told his players that they could not protest. He simply told that that they weren’t allowed to protest during the National Anthem. “I’ve never said my players aren’t allowed to protest. They would be welcome to. I would support them as their coach. That is my job to support my players. But it wouldn’t be supported for the two to four minutes during the national anthem,” Krupinsky said.
In addition to his coaching duties, Krupinsky serves as an officer with the Danbury Police Department.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more campus updates.