Manitoba hockey player suspended after alleged racist gesture
Posted February 23, 2022 8:07 pm.
Last Updated March 7, 2022 5:44 pm.
A hockey player with the Dauphin Kings in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) has been suspended indefinitely following an alleged racist gesture he made towards the visiting Waywayseecappo Wolverines team over the weekend.
A cell phone video captures Kings player Klim Georgiev allegedly firing a bow and arrow towards the Wolverines at the end of Saturday’s game. The video has since garnered a lot of attention on social media.
“That happened on a First Nation MJHL team, on First Nation land, on a First Nation player skating after the whistle. It was disappointing, it was disgraceful and there is no excuse for that, and it was a choice. At the end of the day, it was a choice,” said Stephane Friday, co-founder of Hockey Indigenous.
Georgiev received a gross misconduct penalty and is now suspended. Friday hopes the MJHL imposes significant consequences.
Here the video of it. They were going at it all night and chirping and celebrating at each other all night pic.twitter.com/5NFlE6rfa3
— icyice (@pubg_icy) February 21, 2022
“Anything less than 10 games would be a slap in the face. It would be good for him to be suspended for the rest of the season, but 10 games would be the minimum in my eyes,” said Friday.
In a statement, the MJHL says they are taking the situation seriously and will have no comment until the matter has been concluded. CityNews reached out to the Waywayseecappo Wolverines for comment but didn’t hear back.
The Dauphin Kings addressed the incident on social media saying, “Our club is committed to being a first-class organization. We take pride in bringing these players into our community and we all must remember that these are young men who are still learning.”
“It’s very disappointing,” said Peter Woods, Executive Director of Hockey Manitoba.
Woods says there are rules and guidelines in place for discrimination penalties. He says this type of behaviour is unacceptable.
“It is a concern, it’s a growing process and growing education for everyone. It’s highlighted a few things. Not the most complementary parts of the game, this certainly being of them. It’s valuable, certainly long overdue and it’s important we take steps to cure this and eliminate this type of activity,” he added.
Olympian and Pro-Scout for the Chicago Blackhawks, Brigette Lacquette, voiced her concerns on social media saying this is unacceptable and it’s important to stand up and address it.
Friday agrees. He says he can’t believe something like this still happens in 2022 and it’s important for everyone to be educated.
“Check out resources such as the Truth and Reconciliation call to action, the Orange Society, they have so many resources on Indian Residential School and people need to read up on inter-generational trauma.”
