Flames’ Peters accused of calling player a racial slur

Bill Peters will not coach the Calgary Flames on Wednesday while club officials continue investigating an accusation that he repeatedly used a racial slur in addressing forward Akim Aliu while both were with the minor league Rockford (Ill.) Ice Hogs a decade ago.

The accusations by Aliu, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Canada and is no longer in the NHL, were corroborated by two players who witnessed the event, according to Canada’s TSN.ca.

“Our review into the allegations from [Monday] evening continues,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said Tuesday. “This is a very serious matter and we want to be thorough in our review. We will have no further comment until our review is complete.”

Aliu told TSN that Peters walked into the locker room before a morning skate and used a racial epithet several times in complaining about the lyrics of the hip-hop music Aliu had chosen to play.

“He then walked out like nothing ever happened,” Aliu told TSN.

Aliu said he feared his career would suffer if he came forward at the time.

“I was 20 years old and a first-year pro. I was too scared to speak up,” he said to TSN. “I beat myself up every day over it.”

He also said Peters’ bias against him led to his being demoted to the ECHL.

Aliu’s allegation led to other players using social media to bring up incidents in which they said they were hit or verbally abused by a coach, or saw other players hit or verbally abused.

Daniel Carcillo, a former NHL enforcer who played 26 games for the Kings during the 2013-14 season, said on Twitter he saw then-coach Darryl Sutter “kick someone in the lower back on the bench.”

Added Carcillo: “What he did to Matt Greene in front of the entire room before a team meeting when he had a concussion was absurd.”

Defenseman Drew Doughty said this year that he and Sutter often butted heads but he loved the coach who guided the Kings to two Stanley Cup championships.

Also on Tuesday, former Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Michal Jordan said Peters kicked him and punched another player during a game while Peters coached the Hurricanes. Jordan called Peters “the worst coach ever by far.”