Earlier this week, a video of an unidentified hockey coach speaking with his players on the first day of camp from the locker room surfaced. The coach stood in front of the players and started out by addressing the issue of kneeling for the national anthem.

“Alright, listen up for a second. First day of camp. Something really important. We’re not women’s soccer, we’re not the NFL. If there’s anybody here that’s gonna be disrespectful to either the American national anthem or the Canadian national anthem, grab your gear and get the f**k out now, cuz you’ll never see the ice in this arena! We don’t have that problem in hockey. We’re better than that. But there’s no sense in wasting anyone’s time if that shit’s gonna happen here. I don’t believe in that. We’re one of the most patriotic sports out there. So just keep that in mind. Thank you.”

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The hockey coach was later identified as John Krupinsky, who is also a police sergeant.

The assistant coach for the Danbury Hat Tricks of the Federal Hockey League was a guest on “Fox & Friends,” where he talked about the viral video that’s been seen over 7 million times.

“I take pride in my country,” Krupinksy told the Fox and Friends hosts. “I’ve unfortunately seen it cover too many coffins. I think we can take a timeout to give two minutes’ worth of respect to our soldiers, to our firemen, to your policemen. I don’t think that’s asking too much. I’m not going to apologize for asking players to show a little bit of respect when it’s either the American or Canadian national anthem.”

The police sergeant cleared the air about those who say he wasn’t allowing his players to protest, “Some people said, ‘Oh you wouldn’t let your players protest.’ I wanna be clear—My players would be free to protest on their day off. If they had something they wanted to do,” Kruskinsky told the Fox and Friends hosts.

“I don’t think it’s too much to ask your employees to show some respect for the flag and for the country,” he said.

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