A player with the StFX men’s hockey team says shaming of a sexual assault survivor prompted an on-ice brawl with the Acadia Axemen.
It started near the midway point of the third period in Acadia’s 6-3 win against StFX in Wolfville Saturday night.
The brawl between the teams’ benches led to a 20-minute delay and close to 300 minutes in penalties; eight members of the X-Men, five Acadia players and both head coaches were ejected from the game.
Phil Currie, the AUS executive director, has said they’re taking the incident very seriously, and the men’s hockey commissioner is investigating.
In a statement, Sam Studnicka, a forward with the X-Men, says he’s had to deal with “insulting and derogatory comments on the ice pertaining to the shaming of a sexual assault survivor” during his three-year university career.
He says it’s been frustrating one AUS hockey program in particular has been behind repeated on-ice comments toward him.
Brad Peddle, StFX’s head coach, says he does not condone fighting, but completely understands and supports the actions of his student-athletes, and how they chose to stand up for a teammate on an issue more important than winning a hockey game.
Acadia officials say the information they’ve gathered on the incident is not consistent with the allegations.
