An Island native and two former Charlottetown Islanders are amongst the 15 players suspended following a review of Saturday’s brawl during an Atlantic University Sport (AUS) men’s hockey game in Wolfville, N.S.
St. FX X-Men Bailey Webster, a Kelvin Grove native, Will Thompson and Will Bower each received two games as part of automatic suspensions following the AUS’s review of the Acadia-St. FX game.
Both head coaches, Acadia's Darren Burns and St. FX's Brad Peddle, were also suspended, and a further investigation by the conference could result in more discipline. The suspensions take effect immediately as Acadia plays at Saint Mary’s this evening while St. FX is scheduled to play at UPEI on Saturday to close out the regular season.
“Every suspension announced today is automatic,” said executive director Phil Currie. “If you left your bench, you receive an automatic two-game suspension. If you were the third person in a fight, you receive an automatic two-game suspension, and so forth.
“These would normally have been confirmed right after the game. But given the unprecedented number of players involved, the AUS hockey chair and I felt it was necessary to take the time to review all materials available to us and ensure nothing was missed by the officials who were dealing with a chaotic and dangerous situation in real time.”
Currie is scheduled to speak with the media in Halifax this afternoon.
Currie has filed official complaints to the sport chair on five student-athletes and three coaches involved in Saturday’s incident based on the initial review of the video evidence. They will be subject to an in-depth secondary review.
“This whole situation is extremely disappointing,” said Currie. “These are institutions of higher learning and as university sport administrators, violence at our events is unacceptable. There is no place for fighting in university sport – be it in hockey, basketball, volleyball or any other sport. Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our student-athletes.”
St. FX released statements Monday from X-Men forward Sam Studnicka and head coach Brad Peddle which suggested Studnicka was a target of a derogatory comment related to a sexual assault survivor during Saturday’s game which sparked the brawl. Acadia said in a statement the information it had gathered was not consistent with the allegations made by St. FX.
The conference said it is aware of allegations and intends to investigate it thoroughly.
“These allegations are troubling, to say the least,” said Currie. “We will not tolerate comments of this nature or gendered insults of any kind in our league.”
Suspensions
A look at the automatic suspensions released on Wednesday by the AUS.
Acadia Axemen
- Rodney Southam: Subsequent fight – 2 Games
- Owen MacDonald: Leaving the bench during a fight – 2 Games
- Ross MacDougall: Leaving the bench during a fight – 2 Games
- TJ Fergus: Game misconduct (interference from bench) – 2 games
- Cole Reginato: Leaving the bench during a fight (2 games) + Subsequent fight (2 games) = 4 games total
- Loch Morrison: Throwing Stick – 2 Games
- Darren Burns (Head Coach): Game misconduct (1 game) + first player leaving bench (1 game) = 2 games total
St. FX X-Men
- Regan Spears: Instigating a fight (1 game) + fighting (1 game) = 2 games total
- Sam Studnicka: Subsequent fight – 2 games
- William Thompson: Subsequent fight – 2 games
- Nathan Pancel: Leaving the bench during a fight – 2 games
- Mark Tremaine: Leaving the bench during a fight – 2 games
- William Bower: Leaving the bench during a fight – 2 games
- Bailey Webster: Leaving the bench during a fight – 2 games
- Cole MacDonald: Leaving the bench during a fight – 2 games
- Aaron Hoyles: Leaving the bench during a fight (2 games) + 3rd man into a fight (2 games) + second game misconduct in same season (1 game) = 5 games total
- Brad Peddle (Head Coach): Game misconduct (1 game) + second game misconduct in same season (1 game) = 2 games total
