Sarnia’s Anthony DeAngelo suspended for insulting teammate

Sarnia Sting defenseman Anthony DeAngelo has not played in two weeks. The last time he was on the ice was on January 31st in a game against the Guelph Storm. Until now, it was said that the talented defenseman was serving a team suspension imposed by head coach Trevor Letowski.

It is not the first time a player has been disciplined by a coach, and it will not be the last. However, the situation was unclear, as Letowski avoided the question of why Exactly He has decided to bench the highly touted NHL draft candidate.

Those clouds lifted Friday when the Ontario Hockey League announced it had suspended the Sewell, NJ, native for eight games for violating the league’s harassment, abuse and diversity policy. It’s the second time this season the 18-year-old has been suspended for violating the rule designed to keep homophobic, racist, sexist and other derogatory terms used by small-minded people out of the game.

The minimum penalty for this offence is five games. Recently, Steven Janes of Windsor was suspended for five games under the same rule. In Janes’ case, it was for making an abusive comment to an opponent during a game.

In DeAngelo’s case, his words were directed at a teammate. The team is keeping quiet about what was said and to whom, but it was bad enough that Letowski took action without waiting for the league to intervene.

“We made the decision as an internal organization,” said Letowski, a former NHL player and Sting alumnus. “It was obviously a serious matter. Anytime it involves one of our players, there has to be a certain level of respect. We respect all of our players and it was pretty serious.”

“We dealt with it internally on day one and then we felt it was important for the league to get involved… we fully support the league’s decision.”

In this regard, the OHL has made great strides considering its history of bullying (remember former teammates Steve Downie and Akim Aliu?) and racism (remember John Vanbiesbrouck and Trevor Daley?).

Bullying – verbal or otherwise – should never be tolerated. But it’s even more shameful and pathetic when the victim is a teammate. As we learned from the recent NFL investigation into Miami Dolphins teammates Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin, what happens in the locker room doesn’t always have to stay there.

Unlike in the professional leagues, junior players are usually housed with families that are not far from each other. They carpool and go to school together. They spend an inordinate amount of time riding the bus together. They share a room on the road. There’s not much you can do on a $50-a-week salary, so team movie nights are still a staple of junior life.

Often far from home, the team becomes a second family. What happened in Sarnia sounds like more than a regular argument between brothers. During its investigation, the OHL found that DeAngelo “did in fact make a highly inappropriate statement to a teammate.”

One has to wonder what DeAngelo’s teammate, his victim, thinks about all this.

“I’ve talked to him a lot and he’s going to be OK,” Letowski said before Sarnia’s Friday night game against the Knights in London. “I think the penalty was pretty harsh. It was just a heat of the moment thing that got a little out of hand.”

“He’ll be fine.”

DeAngelo may not be so lucky. This is his draft year, and the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau has him ranked 10th among North American skaters for the June draft. He has already served five games of his suspension, meaning he will be eligible to play again on February 22 when the Sting face the Ottawa 67s.

“Anthony made a mistake and was overwhelmed by the moment,” Letowski said. “I’m sure he wishes he could take it back, but it was one of those unique moments. The league made the decision and we fully support that. It’s eight games and he has to pay the penalty.”

“We are just happy that the matter is finally coming to an end.”

Sunaya Sapurji is Junior Hockey Editor at Yahoo! Sports.
Email: [email protected] | Twitter @Sunayas