The Ontario Hockey League has fined the Barrie Colts Hockey Club for comments it deems “detrimental to the public perception of the league.”
The penalty has been set at $15,000.
The comments came from the team’s head coach Dylan Smoskowitz and captain Kashawn Aitcheson after the Colts beat the Brantford Bulldogs in the Eastern Conference final. Barrie was trailing 3-1 in their best-of-seven series and then won the next three matches back-to-back to claim the Bobby Orr Trophy.
In a post-Game 7 interview, Smoskowitz and Aitcheson responded to all questions with: “No one cares, work harder.”
Smoskowitz later explained on TSN’s OverDrive he had wanted the entire team to attend the press conference but was told the room was too small.
“Instead of being an adult about it and being mature about it and saying, ‘OK, no problem, let’s go into the normal press conference as per usual,’ I kind of went the other way with it,” he said.
“It was a decision that I regret immediately. It took away from a really, really good game and a really, really good hockey series. That one’s on me. That was a big oopsie and something that I’ll learn from. You better believe it won’t happen again.”
Smoskowitz also absolved Aitcheson of any responsibility, explaining he was only following his coach’s lead.
On Wednesday, the OHL announced Barrie’s fine for the incident.
“The OHL holds its member teams and their personnel to the highest standards of professional conduct,” a press release said. “The post-game comments in question were determined to be highly unprofessional and represented a disservice to the dedicated media members who provide coverage of the Ontario Hockey League.”
The Colts will face off against the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL finals. The puck drops for Game 1 on Wednesday night at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
