Toronto area hockey league investigating after alleged racial slurs were aimed at multiple players
On September 30th, the Humber Valley Sharks were set to face off against the Forest Hill Force in a GTHL game. No one knew before the opening face off that something would occur changing one player's views of the game forever. Yonas Nicola-Lalonde is a 15-year-old playing for the Humber Valley Sharks and during that game his perspective changed forever.
Everything started on a harmless looking play as the Sharks were breaking the puck out of their own zone. A member of the Force delivered a body check, which while usually legal wasn't in this game. This game was being played under non-contact rules. The body check created a scrum where Nicola-Lalonde delivered a cross-check to the other player.
That's when the player allegedly called Nicola-Lalonde the n-word. A brawl immediately broke out and that's when the player lashed out with an anti-Asian slur directed at the Sharks goalie. The two attacks were directed at the only two people of color on the ice.
It broke me. I turned into a ghost. I didn't know what to do. After it ended, I skated off the ice and went to the change room and tried to recompose myself because I was in so much shock.
I felt empty. I felt useless. It made me not want to play anymore and just retire from hockey.
When it happened to me the first time, I was only 10 years old and the player that said it at the time couldn't have understood how impactful and negative that word could be. But now I'm 15 and everyone knows how offensive that word is.
There were no penalties assessed on the play and the accused player was allowed to continue in both the game and the tournaments. According to the referee they hadn't heard the comment, but it was clear to everyone something out of the ordinary had occurred. One of the Sharks coach shared the following:
The League issued the following statement to CBC:
According to the league the investigation could take months, but Nicola-Lalonde had been in contact with Hockey Diversity Alliance for support with the matter.
| POLL | ||
Do you consider racism a large issue in sports? | ||
| Yes, it's a real problem | 57 | 23.8 % |
| I think it's magnified by the media | 92 | 38.5 % |
| No, it's not a real issue | 35 | 14.6 % |
| It's an isolated issue caused by bad people | 55 | 23 % |
| List of polls | ||
