The New York Rangers take on the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden in their final game before the Thanksgiving holiday. The Rangers are trying for their first three game winning streak of the season.
While the New York Rangers seek to extend their winning streak to three, the Carolina Hurricanes are trying to stay focused while the entire hockey world is zeroing in on former Hurricanes coach Bill Peters.
This week, allegations that Calgary Flames coach Peters used racist language about ten years aho while addressing some of the young members of the Rockford Ice Hogs, when he was the coach of the AHL farm team of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Not very surprising the things we’re hearing about Babcock. Apple doesn’t fall far from the Tree, same sort of deal with his protege in YYC. Dropped the N bomb several times towards me in the dressing room in my rookie year because he didn’t like my choice of music. First one to
— Akim Aliu (@Dreamer_Aliu78) November 26, 2019
The Flames immediately announced an investigation and Peters will not be coaching the team until the issue is resolved. That’s when the Hurricanes entered the picture
Former Carolina defenseman Michal Jordan was following the story and tweeted this about Peters:
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With those two Tweets, the Carolina Hurricanes became a big piece of the Peters story since he coached the Hurricanes for four seasons from 2014 to 2018.
After the Hurricanes’ game day skate this morning at Madison Square Garden, current coach Rod Brind’Amour tackled the topic head on. He confirmed the story and said that it had been dealt with.
Brind’Amour said “To me it’s what happened after that I’m proud about, actually. the way the players handled it and the way the sports staff handled it, which was to bring it to management right away, And then management handled it correctly and never heard of it again. … It was definitely dealt with, in my opinion, correctly. … We’ve definitely moved past that.”
The Hurricanes tweeted Brind’Amour’s comments:
Head Coach Rod Brind'Amour addresses the media ahead of tonight's game pic.twitter.com/SSOQLLMi7o
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) November 27, 2019
The Athletic (subscription required) is reporting that the incident happened in 2015-16 and a group of player confronted Peters after the incident and he apologized. Peters remained the coach for two more years.
Brind’Amour told reporters that the power is shifting and more players are willing to speak up.
One of the players who has not hesitated from speaking out is former Ranger Dan Carcillo. He has been outspoken advocate for player’s rights and more concern about concussions. Carcillo has gotten numerous responses to his tweets about abusive coaches.
Read below about how big of a toll a toxic coach can have on a young man in hockey
— Daniel Carcillo (@CarBombBoom13) November 27, 2019
I have over 100 similar stories in my inbox now and will be airing the messages, in most cases, from minors and teens in junior who just need to be heard#hockey #abuse pic.twitter.com/9GGIbFaxnU
All of this follows the firing of Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock and subsequent allegations that he engaged in some cruel mind games with his players, Mitch Marner in particular. Bill Peters was an assistant coach with Babcock for three years in Detroit.
The good news for the Rangers is that the organization has steered clear of any issues like these. In a media capital like New York, it would be tough for incidents such as these to remain below the surface, no matter how reluctant hockey players are to share information.
Transparency and full disclosure can only be a good thing for hockey. Heightened attention to abuse of players on all levels can only benefit the game so we can all focus on what goes on on the ice as opposed to in the locker room.
Writers note: The original version of this story didn’t specify that the incident under investigation occurred about ten years ago when Peters was coaching in the AHL. Sorry about the confusion.