The Avalon East Senior Hockey League executive has decided not to take immediate disciplinary action against the Mount Pearl Blades player arrested after allegedly assaulting a fan following a league game at S.W. Moores Memorial Stadium in Harbour Grace on Saturday. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the player in question won’t face league discipline down the road.
Neither the league nor the RCMP, which is investigating the incident, have released the name of the player, who is scheduled to make a court appearance April 19.
“The one thing that’s consistent is the lack of consistency to what people are saying happened,” league president Kevin Dicks told the Telegram Tuesday night.
“The end result is a young fellow charged and really there’s not much we can do until such time that a court case makes a determination on it.”
On Saturday, as the Blades left the ice after losing 4-1 to the Conception Bay North CeeBee Stars, Glen Legge of Heart’s Content says he was among a group of CeeBees’ fans gathered outside the door to the Mount Pearl dressing room, about 25 to 30 feet from the ice surface, taunting the players. Legge claims a member of the Blades threw a water bottle which struck him on the head and left him bleeding from a laceration above the hairline.
The RCMP were called to the arena, and the player was arrested and later released
The situation is different than one which took place involving the CeeBees’ Matthew French at the Southern Shore Arena a few seasons back. French was given a seven-game suspension after he inadvertently struck a fan in the head during an off-ice melee that ensued as French, who had just been given a game misconduct, was leaving the ice.
The case never went to court, but French was handed the suspension since the incident was witnessed by members of the league executive who were in attendance. That apparently was not the case Saturday in Harbour Grace.
The Avalon Wolverines Search and Rescue Group provides security for CeeBees home games on a volunteer basis and normally create a perimeter for the players to pass through the crowd. And while they were on hand Saturday, Dicks says they were not identified as security, making them indiscernible in a crowd of CeeBees supporters.
“I think it’s very important we have some identification as to who security are,” Dicks says, “in any arena.”
Officials at S.W. Moores told the Conception Bay North Compass newspaper that security will be improved for future home games and that a larger section of the concourse will be roped off when visiting teams are entering or leaving the ice.
When contacted by The Telegram Tuesday, Blades’ general manager Jim Hare declined comment on the advice of the team’s lawyer. A spokesperson for the CeeBees could not be reached for comment.
koliver@thetelegram.com
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It is not right for anyone to throw objects at anybody. Or resort to any form of violence whatsoever but if Glen legge had been acting his age instead of acting like a 15 year old, this incident wouldn't have happened in the first place.