Prince Edward Island Hockey has rejected the appeal of five players allowed for racist behavior and upheld their 25-game suspension.
These players are from the minor hockey team Tornadoes of Tyne Valley was disciplined for insulting Mark Connors, a black goaltender who plays for the Halifax Hawks, at a game in Charlottetown in November.
Since then, an investigation into the incident has been launched.
An independent company was hired to conduct the investigation and conducted hearings on those involved. The final report shows the decision of the Special Hockey Discipline and Ethics Committee PEI was published in February.
Then the families of the hockey players called PEI to request a punitive review.
The Appeals Committee heard their case, and dismissed their appeal and upheld the preliminary decision of the Discipline and Ethics Committee.Hockey Prince Edward Island wrote in a letter sent to the Connor family on Monday.
The appeal of the families of the players
Upon investigation, the players and their families confirmed that provocations were launched against Mark Connors during the match.
However, they say the investigation did not show any evidence about the racist statements.
Despite an ongoing 25-game suspension, players have the ability to appeal to Hockey Canada.
End of investigation into the hotel incident
Hockey Prince Edward Island also investigated another incident that occurred at a hotel in the same tournament.
The teams that played in the competition were accommodated at this hotel establishment on the island.
According to Mark Connors, another group of players approached him at the hotel saying hockey was a sport for white people and that he should not play.
In a press release, Hockey PEI It said this investigation is now final, but it did not identify the players who allegedly made comments about Mark Connors at the hotel.
Despite the investigator’s best efforts to approach the matter from a variety of angles and talk to other witnesses, he was unable to discover significant new evidence to help identify those who might be involved.indicates Hockey IPE in its letter.
The Connors family welcomes the decision
In a message sent to CBC On Tuesday, Mark Connors’ family said they were pleased with the decision to uphold punishment for the ice rink incident.
However, the family said they were disappointed to learn that the investigation into the hotel incident had been completed.
Mark Connors’ father Wayne Connors also said he hopes the team of players at the hotel will launch their own internal investigation into the incident.
Such an investigation on the part of the team has not yet been conducted, according to him.
According to Hockey PEIthe investigation into the hotel incident may be reopened if new information is found.
In a press release, the sport’s governing body on the island said it had hired a consulting company from Nova Scotia to provide training to its staff and volunteers.
The purpose of this training is to help combat racism in this sporting environment on the island.
With information from Nicola MacLeod, CBC
Source: Radio-Canada
