A rural Manitoba highschool hockey staff has withdrawn from A/AA provincial playoffs and its gamers made ineligible for his or her league’s post-season awards and upcoming all-star recreation amid an RCMP investigation into allegations of hazing, CBC Information has discovered.
“I do not know what to do aside from to attend to see what occurs proper now. Mountain Mustangs are part of our league. … It is below investigation for the RCMP,” mentioned Mike Watson, president of the Zone IV Excessive College Hockey League.
“I heard that it was a hazing sort of incident.”
The Prairie Mountain Mustangs have been knocked out of the Zone IV Excessive College Hockey League playoffs on Feb. 17 however as a result of they completed the common season as the highest A/AA staff within the league, they’d have been one of many two groups representing the league within the A/AA provincial playoffs in Boissevain on Feb. 22-24.
The staff didn’t attend these championships and “requested their staff be withdrawn from any consideration of post-season awards” due to “an inside, ongoing matter on the college, disciplinary form of factor,” Watson mentioned.
“I agreed it was the appropriate factor to do.”
An RCMP spokesperson mentioned the alleged incident was reported to Pembina Valley RCMP in Carman on Feb. 20. Police say it’s alleged to have occurred in Winnipeg in January.
WATCH | RCMP investigates report of hazing incident involving Manitoba hockey staff:
RCMP are investigating a reported incident involving a Manitoba hockey staff after a rural college division mentioned it was made conscious of hazing allegations.
The Prairie Mountain Mustangs, a co-operative AA varsity boys’ highschool hockey staff in southern Manitoba, contains college students from Prairie Mountain Excessive College in Somerset, Ecole Regionale Notre Dame in Notre Dame De Lourdes, and Miami College.
The staff is registered below each the Manitoba Excessive Faculties Athletic Affiliation (MHSAA) and Hockey Manitoba.
“We have been made conscious of an incident with the hockey staff a number of weeks in the past by the Prairie Spirit College Division … they have been making the choice to tug the staff from our two-way provincial highschool hockey championships,” mentioned Chad Falk, govt director of the MHSAA. He had beforehand confirmed the staff’s title in an e mail.
“We do not have very a lot info, simply that there was an incident and that they’re investigating it.”
Falk mentioned he was “very involved” when he heard concerning the allegations.
Nonetheless, from his restricted conversations with the varsity division, he mentioned “it appears like they’re working laborious at discovering who’s answerable for this and I do know that they are trusting within the RCMP, Winnipeg Police Service to do their investigations as nicely. So I actually do hope that justice is discovered for these alleged victims.”
The Prairie Spirit College Division mentioned it began an inside investigation after it turned conscious of the allegations, however wouldn’t present extra particulars. The Prairie Rose College Division has additionally been made conscious, as one of many gamers is from its division.
In a press release to CBC Information Tuesday, the francophone Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine (DSFM) mentioned: “We affirm that DSFM’s college students have been concerned on this hazing incident and that an inside investigation occurred. DSFM is conscious of the RCMP’s investigation and won’t touch upon it because it pertains to the privateness of scholars and their households.”
“DSFM won’t tolerate hazing or any abusive incidents,” the assertion continued, including the division is working to assist the scholars and households concerned.
When reached by e mail, the Mountain Mustangs’ head coach declined remark, saying any questions must be directed to the varsity division workplace.
“I am not at liberty to be sharing any info associated to this,” Mike Collet wrote.
CBC Information reached one of many gamers on the staff, who mentioned he did not know something concerning the allegations. Others reached in the neighborhood mentioned they’ve heard rumours of hazing on the staff, however no affirmation of any particulars.
Hockey Manitoba is conscious of the investigation, “monitoring it intently,” and ready for the outcomes of the police investigation, govt director Peter Woods mentioned.
If costs are laid, it might have an effect on gamers’ eligibility to play subsequent yr.
“I feel all of us acknowledge the seriousness of one thing like this,” Woods mentioned.
The Mountain Mustangs staff has a strict code of conduct that gamers and oldsters should signal. It contains each staff occasions in addition to actions earlier than and after video games.
“The coach and the administration might droop or take away a participant from the staff within the occasion that his behaviour on-ice or off-ice is just not in concordance with the anticipated. Being a member of the Mustangs is taken into account a privilege,” the doc says.
Based on Hockey Manitoba’s insurance policies, anybody discovered to have “condoned, initiated or, to the detriment of one other, participated in hazing actions or behaviours shall be topic to self-discipline as much as and together with expulsion from Hockey Canada registered applications.”
Anybody failing to co-operate with the investigative course of could also be topic to suspension.
Reporting is sweet information
Consultants on hazing say the excellent news is that this alleged incident was reported and is being investigated.
“That meant that whoever did the reporting had the boldness and wherewithal, [the] schooling to step ahead and say, ‘You recognize what, that wasn’t proper,'” mentioned Wayne McNeil, co-founder, with former NHL participant Sheldon Kennedy, of the group Respect.
Their group educates individuals in sports activities and colleges on abuse prevention, together with hazing, which might embrace bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination, which generally crosses a line to change into sexual assault.
“However no matter how extreme we would understand the maltreatment to be, it has huge, long-lasting results, as a result of whether or not it is repeated bullying, whether or not it is one type of maltreatment versus one other, it impacts the mind, particularly at a younger age. And, you realize, these gamers carry it for the remainder of their life,” McNeil mentioned.
However whereas sport organizations have been educating gamers, coaches and oldsters about hazing for years, research present it is nonetheless occurring, mentioned Jay Johnson, a kinesiology professor on the College of Manitoba who has been doing analysis on hazing in sport for 25 years.
“We had a nationwide research that we performed in 2018 the place we surveyed athletes in youth sports activities throughout Canada and we have been shocked to search out that also two-thirds of these athletes have been nonetheless reporting hazing happening.”
There are issues groups can do to scale back the probabilities of it occurring, together with drafting clear and concise insurance policies round hazing and the results, after which following by.
Stories of hazing at the highschool or membership stage are rising as a result of mother and father are talking out, Johnson mentioned.
Nonetheless, he acknowledges, it is a problem for athletes to return ahead as a result of they’re a part of the tradition of the staff.
“For them to type of break off and be those who come ahead and be the whistleblowers, you realize, traditionally being the whistleblower has hardly ever labored out nicely or in favour of the individual blowing the whistle, but it surely’s often step one in altering the tradition,” Johnson mentioned.
