[StoneCole]

hey folks,

I am hoping to get some thoughts/feedback from the community regarding an incident which occurred at my rec. hockey game. If any lawyers want to comment also this would be of great interest to me.

Here's a brief account of the incident:

1. Myself and a player from an opposing team were issued minor penalties for roughing.
2. In the skate to the box, the player and I exchanged some words. For the most part it was just typical hockey bs, but the player did make one comment which caught me by surprise:

"shut the ###### up you ['race'] piece of "s**t"

3. In the penalty box, I requested that the timekeeper provide me with the name and number of the player (for the purpose of potentially reporting what was said). The timekeeper refused.

4. I persisted. Upon asking for the players name/number the third time, the timekeeper again refused, and also made the following accusation, stating that he would not provide me the other players name/number because:

"[I] was the one who started the racist bulls**t"

5. My immediate response was to firmly (perhaps too firmly) deny his false (and damaging) allegation, stating:

"that's ######ing bulls**t, I never said anything racist"

6. The timekeeper then had me ejected from the game.

At this point, feeling as though I've been pretty thoroughly wronged, I began considering writing a letter to the league.

7. Today I find out that I was issued a gross-misconduct, which carries a minimum 2 game suspension.

So in summary:

1. I was the victim of a prejudiced verbal attack

2. I was then falsely accused of being the one to make a prejudiced verbal attack.

3. I was ejected and in essense given a two game suspension for the above.

Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you all I was some angel. I was loud, I said some curse words, but at the end of the day, I really do feel victimized here. Thoughts??

Thanks for your time.