OHL fines Barrie Colts following Game 7 post-game press conference
The Ontario Hockey League has fined the Barrie Colts $15,000 for “conduct detrimental to the public perception of the League” after their eyebrow-raising post-game press conference in Brantford on Monday.
Shortly after their 5-0 win over the Brantford Bulldogs in Game 7 of the OHL’s Eastern Conference championships series, Colts head coach Dylan Smoskowitz and captain Kashawn Aitcheson addressed the media in a highly peculiar fashion.
Instead of actually answering any of the questions put forth to them by the assembled media members, both Smoskowitz and Aitcheson responded to each question by repeating the Colts’ team motto: “No one cares, work harder.” The video of the media availability quickly went viral, with fans and media alike from across the hockey world reacting with equal measures of confusion and derision.
Smoskowitz apologized and took responsibility for the press conference in an interview on TSN’s OverDrive show on Wednesday, while OHL commissioner Bryan Crawford called the Colts’ conduct “not good” and indicated that the team would be punished — as they now have been.
Led by Aitcheson and Emil Hemming, the Colts rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the Bulldogs and advance to the OHL Championship, where they’ll face the Kitchener Rangers. Barrie goaltender Ben Hrebik posted a 40-save shutout in the pivotal 5-0 win on Monday.
But the Colts’ press conference antics have overshadowed any of the positive press they may have otherwise received for pulling off such an impressive comeback. Speaking to the Waterloo Region Record on Tuesday, Crawford expressed his disappointment with the team for its treatment of the assembled media, which included OHL communications director Josh Sweetland.
“I don’t know what that was about,” Crawford said. “We expect better interactions and representing our league in the right way and their team and themselves as well … They did a disservice to themselves in the way they chose to handle the press conference.”
Game 1 of the OHL Championship between the Colts and Rangers is scheduled to take place in Kitchener on Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.