Carcillo speaks out on alleged 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 as a 17-year-old rookie on the Sarnia Sting during 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 thirdround 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.
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.
“As acknowledged by Daniel Carcillo in several of his online posts, the OHL did react to the concerns he raised during his rookie season,” reads an official statement issued by the OHL to The Canadian Press. “The league, which has a zero tolerance on hazing, has been implementing policies to prevent hazing or bullying for several years.”
Carcillo described further scenes to The Canadian Press, including being forced to bob for apples in a cooler filled with waste including pizza, urine, and spit.
Carcillo said that he reached a breaking point in 2003 when he and six or seven other rookies were stuffed into the washroom on a charter bus during a 45-minute trip between Sarnia, Ont., and London, Ont. As the shirtless players were stuffed into the confined space, Carcillo said veteran players spat their chewing tobacco through an air vent.
Jeff Perry, Sarnia’s head coach in 2002-03, says he was concerned for Carcillo and disappointed in his veteran players when he read Carcillo’s allegations.
“Certainly it’s something that, at the time, we were unaware of,” said Perry.