Appeals to Hockey P.E.I. suspensions filed by all 5 players at heart of racism incident
Players say there is no evidence of racist slurs against Black goalie from Halifax
CBC News has confirmed that all five minor hockey players from western P.E.I. who received suspensions from Hockey P.E.I. last month are appealing the decision.
The players were suspended in the Mark Connors case. He's the teenage goalie from Halifax who says the P.E.I. players directed repeated racial slurs at him during a game in Charlottetown at a tournament in November.
A report from Hockey P.E.I.'s discipline and ethics committee chronicles how the five players were seated in the stands at the Simmons Sports Centre watching the Halifax Hawks take on members of a different Island team.
Connors, who is Black, was in net for the Hawks.
He told his coach during the game, and a Hockey P.E.I. investigator in the weeks to follow, that the five people repeatedly called out to him using the N-word.
A disciplinary hearing by Hockey P.E.I.'s discipline and ethics committee Feb. 11 agreed with Connors.
Appeal hearings yet to take place
The five players were each suspended for 25 games. They acknowledging "chirping" Connors while he was tending goal — but they and their parents insist there is no supporting evidence that anything of a racist nature was said that day.
One mother who spoke during the virtual hearing disputed Connors' account this way, according to the committee's report: "She noted that no official heard them, no parent heard them, and no witness in the rink heard them," calling the complaint about the slurs "implausible."
The parents also said the distance from the net to the stands in that area of the arena is too great for a goalie to hear much of what spectators say.
Connors called 'credible'
The disciplinary committee rejected those arguments.
"The committee found M to be credible… his evidence made sense and fit together with information from sources other than M," the report said.
It added that during interviews with the investigator hired by Hockey P.E.I., "The five players minimized their participation or provided inconsistent information.… The evidence of the five players also did appear to be rehearsed."
The players were not identified in the Hockey P.E.I. report, with the governing body citing the fact that all the players were minors.
The appeal hearings have not taken place.
The suspensions remain in place.