Carcillo speaks out on hockey hazing
Daniel Carcillo has had enough. Enough of keeping his mouth shut, enough of protecting the people who hurt him.
In two lengthy Twitter threads over the weekend, the two-time Stanley Cup winner outlined some of the alleged bullying and hazing he suffered through as a 17-yearold rookie on the Sarnia Sting over the course of the 2002-03 Ontario Hockey League season.
“That was the worst year of my life. And I got drafted to the NHL and achieved my dreams,” Carcillo, a third-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2003 draft, said in a phone interview with The Canadian Press on Monday. “So think about that statement.
“That was, by far, the hardest year of my life. No doubt about it.”
Carcillo, 33, was inspired to open up about his experience after news broke about an alleged sexual assault involving athletes at St. Michael’s College School, an all-boys private school in Toronto, that was captured on camera. The native of King City, Ont., also thought it would be helpful to share his story as part of Twitter’s Bullying Awareness Week.
From his verified Twitter account, Carcillo spoke of being beaten with the sawed off paddle of a goaltender’s hockey stick on a daily basis.
He also described a “shower train” where rookies were forced to sit on the floor in the shower as veterans urinated or spit chewing tobacco on or near them, sometimes throwing shaving cream at them as well.
Carcillo described further shocking scenes to The Canadian Press, including being forced to bob for apples in a cooler filled with waste including pizza, urine, and spit.
“There’s no stopping me (sharing these stories). This sport and that culture has taken a lot from me,” said Carcillo, who was a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the NHL over the league’s handling of head injuries. A tentative US$18.9-million settlement in that lawsuit was announced on Nov. 12.
The OHL released an official statement on Monday: “As acknowledged by Daniel Carcillo in several of his online posts, the OHL did react to the concerns he raised during his rookie season. The league, which has zero tolerance for hazing, has been implementing policies to prevent hazing or bullying for several years.”