11 year NHL veteran Dan Carcillo is defending CTV's The Social host Jess Allen and her comments regarding hockey players earlier this week. In a lengthy rant on Twitter, the former enforcer called hockey culture "toxic", adding his own kids won't be going anywhere near a rink until the culture changes.

Allen was the subject of much backlash on social media after stating that her experience with hockey players led her to believe they were all "white boys", "bullies" and "not very nice." She also stated hockey was only open to the affluent, something Carcillo agrees with.

"Allen is right about it being a sport for privileged, predominantly white boys," Carcillo stated. "You are privileged if you can spend north of $10,000 to register for hockey. She is right about the type of men that are drawn to the sport. I was one of those men."

"I worshiped at the alter of hockey. I perked up when Don Cherry said things like “listen up kids” when he described violence in hockey and what being a real man looks like. And I listened," Carcillo added. "When I was abused as a minor at the hands of coaches and teammates, I shut up and moved on because ,well, that's what a real man does. I also became the bully. I became a person in the hockey world that I can't recognize today and I never want to be again."

Carcillo retired from the NHL in 2015 and has since been very outspoken about the type of career he had. He has admitted to battling alcohol and substance abuse problems throughout his professional career, and formed the "Chapter 5 Foundation' after his retirement, which is dedicated to helping players who are struggling with post-concussion syndrome, anxiety, or depression.

He ended his lengthy Twitter message by saying "let's fix the fear based learning and negative talk that most coaches spew towards players to motivate them. We get so much more energy from positive thoughts and words, rather than the negative notions that are drilled into us from early ages."

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