TSN: 2 teammates independently corroborate Akim Aliu's allegations against Peters

[ToraToraTora]

Yeah, Canada is one of the least racist places there is.

However, that doesn't mean racism isnt a problem here. I mean, we had a government that systematically stole first Nations children on very loose grounds in many people on this board's lifetimes, and certainly in our parents lifetimes. And it was worse before then (residential schools, previous Indian acts, voting acts). And still first Nations are overrepresented in just about every negative demographic there is (prison population, HIV infection rates, suicide rates). All of that carries on because of a very strong history of racism. Even our previous immigration policies really only encouraged northern or Western Europeans to settle.

So yeah, Canada is not as racist as a lot of places, but it's still racist. And those things pop out a lot more if youre a visible minority.

I thought about this a lot with the don Cherry thing, about the "you people who come here.". It seems pretty minor compared to a lot of things. But I always find it helps to put on the lens of a half Japanese kid in grade 1 in pincher Creek who goes home at lunch to ask his parents why other kids said they don't want to play with "you people". Or that you aren't a Canadian, even though you, your parents, and 3 of your 4 grandparents were born in Canada.

So anyways, racism exists in canada. It is a big problem. You might not see it, but it exists, and it's ****, especially for the kids.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Reggie Dunlop]

I suspect tomorrow that one of Geoff Ward or Ryan Huska will be named Interim Coach until the matter is resolved.

[morgin]

Originally Posted by Krynn

like many of you said there's no place for racism in Hockey or The NHL .I'd like to know why he didn't come forward early.im sorry but if it was any other player said this I would believe him more then Akim Aliu .Akim like to play the race card when he was here .if it's TRUE Peter's has to go

What is “playing the race card”?

[agulati]

This is a easy decision for the Flames to make, if this comes out to be true. We live in a low to no tolerance world for these things(and rightfully so). Would be interesting to see what other players of minority who have played under Peters have to say and if they come out and say anything.

Also to the guy saying Canada is "not tolerant", I belong to a minority and have lived in as well as visited many other countries. and no country is perfect, but Canada is easily the most accepting and most tolerant country I have been to. There are problems, yes, but society appears to be moving in the right direction. It has been a slow march, but at least it appears to be gaining steam.

[Mr.Coffee]

Sidebar but I hate when Canadians pat themselves on the back for being all-inclusive and not racist and the most open etc etc etc.

1) shows lack of humility- what used to be a cultural identity cornerstone seems to be eroding quickly and

2) dubious claim at best unless we aren’t counting treatment of First Nations people?

[CF84]

Originally Posted by Dr. Doom

He's getting roasted on Twitter.
What kind of investigation will happen?
It's a he said he said, this will be the inevitable problem in this case.

Now if more people come to the surface, watch out. Could get even uglier...

I'm sure there would have been someone else in the dressing room with them during the "several times." If Peters denies ever saying these things, but the accusations are true, I'm sure someone will come forward with further allegations. If Peters never said any of that, no other teammates will be there to back Akim up.

No matter which way this ends up going...it just plain sucks



I hope truth wins.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

I suspect tomorrow that one of Geoff Ward or Ryan Huska will be named Interim Coach until the matter is resolved.

I was just thinking the same. Huska, Ward or slim chance the Gelinas takes the reigns until they find a permanent replacement. Ward has a much longer NHL resume than Huska and won a Cup as an assistant with the Bruins. I’d assume he’ll take over. Devils advocate: what available coach out there would you like hired on a permanent basis? And please don’t say Babcock. Also, is this a Mike Richards situation where his contract could be terminated or will Flames owners have to keep paying Peters if he’s fired?

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by CF84

I'm sure there would have been someone else in the dressing room with them during the "several times." If Peters denies ever saying these things, but the accusations are true, I'm sure someone will come forward with further allegations. If Peters never said any of that, no other teammates will be there to back Akim up.

No matter which way this ends up going...it just plain sucks



I hope truth wins.

Here's the roster from that team. Notables include Crawford, Brouwer, Bickell, Hjalmarsson, Niemi.


http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/l...047292009.html


If I'm Treliving, after I get a statement from Peters I'm likely going to call that Rockford roster up personally to get their take as soon as I can, and then make a decision from there. He's not going to idle around and buy time for Peters while other investigations are also likely underway, as it's best for the Flames to get to the bottom of this first before outside parties do and make it look bad for the organization.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by morgin

I’m confused. You called him a piece of crap but then said you only know him through second hand stories during your time in junior. You don’t know the guy and are blasting him as a piece of crap based on what, exactly?

What's so confusing? His character issues are hardly unknown, this definitely isn't something that was kept quiet until btimbit spoke up about it online. What started with 'attitude issues' turned quickly into assaulting teammates. It happened when he was a kid in juniors, it still happened when he was an adult in Russia. I'm not advocating throwing out his accusations entirely based on his history, I'm just saying in a situation where the only thing we have to go on so far is word of mouth, his word isn't the one I'm going to get behind.

[Jore]

Originally Posted by btimbit

What's so confusing? His character issues are hardly unknown, what started with 'attitude issues' turned quickly into assaulting teammates. It happened when he was a kid in juniors, it still happened when he was an adult in Russia. I'm not advocating throwing out his accusations entirely based on his history, I'm just saying in a situation where the only thing we have to go on so far is word of mouth, his word isn't the one I'm going to get behind.

Early in the 2005–06 OHL season, his first in the league, Aliu was involved in an incident with Steve Downie during practice after the latter player cross-checked him in the face, knocking out three teeth. After leaving for treatment, Aliu returned to the ice and fought Downie. The incident stemmed primarily from Aliu's refusal to participate in a hazing ritual that would have forced him and the other rookies to stand naked in a cramped bus washroom.[6] The fight and the reasons for it was international news and strained the relationship between Aliu and his teammates.[7] As a result, Downie was suspended for five games, Aliu for one game, and both players demanded trades out of Windsor. Moe Mantha was given a 40-game ban from coaching by the league for the incidents and also suspended for one year as the team's general manager. The team was fined $35,000.[8]

The Spitfires traded Aliu to the Sudbury Wolves following the incident, where he was forced to sit out two months due to OHL rules that forbade trading 16-year-olds.[9] He appeared in a total of 47 games that season, scoring 10 goals and 10 assists.[10] He remained a controversial figure in the OHL, serving ten games in suspensions early in the 2006–07 season but was also ranked as the fifth best prospect for the 2007 NHL Entry Draft in an early season update by the league's scouting services.[9] He missed the final two games of the regular season for disciplinary reasons but returned to play 21 games in the playoffs as the Wolves reached the finals, losing to the Plymouth Whalers.[3]

wow, seems like there's a bigger story here

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by CF84

I'm sure there would have been someone else in the dressing room with them during the "several times." If Peters denies ever saying these things, but the accusations are true, I'm sure someone will come forward with further allegations. If Peters never said any of that, no other teammates will be there to back Akim up.

No matter which way this ends up going...it just plain sucks



I hope truth wins.

I hope the truth wins too. But let's consider a second what Btimbit said as well. Aliu didnt get along with other players so much so he got into fights, had to move billets. Say he was so reviled during that time the players who could speak up just wont because eff that guy. Entirely plausible.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Treliving isn't going to say anything more than that in a post-game scrum.

He has to talk to Peters, and likely also get legal advice.

And talk to his bosses.

EVERYONE will be in on this before anything official is announced.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Reggie28

Except in music. Or if you are black.

It’s a mind field out there, particularly for white males.

Yeah, let's make the N-word a problem for white men - the clearly most impacted people of that word.

Do you know how hard it is for me, as a white man, to walk around with this deep-seated racist thoughts and being unable to say that hateful word?

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

I was just thinking the same. Huska, Ward or slim chance the Gelinas takes the reigns until they find a permanent replacement. Ward has a much longer NHL resume than Huska and won a Cup as an assistant with the Bruins. I’d assume he’ll take over. Devils advocate: what available coach out there would you like hired on a permanent basis? And please don’t say Babcock. Also, is this a Mike Richards situation where his contract could be terminated or will Flames owners have to keep paying Peters if he’s fired?

This didn't happen on the Flames's watch. I'm not sure how Peters contract is structured.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

I was just thinking the same. Huska, Ward or slim chance the Gelinas takes the reigns until they find a permanent replacement. Ward has a much longer NHL resume than Huska and won a Cup as an assistant with the Bruins. I’d assume he’ll take over. Devils advocate: what available coach out there would you like hired on a permanent basis? And please don’t say Babcock. Also, is this a Mike Richards situation where his contract could be terminated or will Flames owners have to keep paying Peters if he’s fired?

Well seeing as Richard's issues were of the criminally charged nature I dont think Peter's contract gets terminated.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I hope the truth wins too. But let's consider a second what Btimbit said as well. Aliu didnt get along with other players so much so he got into fights, had to move billets. Say he was so reviled during that time the players who could speak up just wont because eff that guy. Entirely plausible.

Absolutely possible. And if it was true they could also have easily been unwilling to go against their coach at such an important stage in their careers.

[dino7c]

As a parent its hard to convey how bad a word it is when it's said 1000 times in popular music and tv. Many kids just consider it a good old fashioned swear word.

I don't allow songs with that word in the dressing room (coach kids) but I certainly wouldn't use the word to get that point across.

[morgin]

Originally Posted by btimbit

What's so confusing? His character issues are hardly unknown, this definitely isn't something that was kept quiet until btimbit spoke up about it online. What started with 'attitude issues' turned quickly into assaulting teammates. It happened when he was a kid in juniors, it still happened when he was an adult in Russia. I'm not advocating throwing out his accusations entirely based on his history, I'm just saying in a situation where the only thing we have to go on so far is word of mouth, his word isn't the one I'm going to get behind.

The only stuff that I can find that is public is that he wouldn’t put up with teammates abusing rookies through hazing and didn’t have time for the darker side of hockey culture with the casual racism and old boys club mentality. If you are saying a guy is a piece of #### because he didn’t get along with people like Darcy Tucker and Downie who reportedly were amused by rookies being sexually assaulted, and to you that means he’s a piece of crap, I guess we’ll just have to disagree. If you have non public info on things he did that aren’t related to the very public stances he took against the ####ty parts of hockey culture, I’m all ears, but I think calling a guy a piece of crap and hand waving it as being “well known character issues” without providing either evidence or backing it up with something specific is ####ty. Him not fitting in is hardly ground for him being a ####ty person. By all accounts Dougie Hamilton doesn’t fit in either and had all these same “character issue” comments made about him, but he also spends a ton of his off ice hours volunteering at children’s hospitals and in the community so is he a piece of crap too just because the hockey community didn’t like that he didn’t fit in?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Peters should be fired for either the team under-performing or because they confirm that this accusation is true.
But this notion that this gives GMBT or the team an "out" to get rid of Peters is a horrible thought.
Either fire him for not getting the job done, or for using a racist term. Don't use the latter for the former.

[OldDutch]

I trust Flames won’t do anything rash. Call Akim up and interview him. Call up former players, and personnel. Do a proper investigation.

If nothing comes of it move on. If it does then deal with it as you see fit. Bill and Akim deserve equal belief right now and fairness.

The Flames can do just as much damage knee jerking over this as they could doing nothing. How they handle this is being watched by many across the NHL.

Given how professional the Flames are I expect this to be handled textbook HR style.