OT: Ian Cole under investigation by the NHL | Suspended by Lightning | 10/15: NHL "finds no evidence to support anonymous allegations"

[larueskee]

Frank Seravalli: “The Lightning defenseman Ian Cole met with the NHL’s chief of security officer Jarrod Maples on Wednesday in New York City. That wasn’t necessarily a hearing, moreso an interview. A chance for the NHL to ask questions. He was represented by his own legal team and counsel as well as the Tampa Bay Lightning and NHL Players’ Association in that meeting. Basically where it stands now is the PA, the Cole camp and Lightning are waiting for the NHL — if they have anything — to bring something forward to corroborate what was an anonymous social media post that came from an account that was newly created with some serious and damaging allegations. The thing is the timeline is important here and this is what the NHLPA is pushing: that if there is nothing new, if there’s no corroboration, no one that comes forward relating to that account, then Cole needs to get back on the ice with the Tampa Bay Lightning — the suspension can’t drag on forever. I do think there’s a possibility if there’s nothing new that comes forward, that Cole is back on the ice sooner rather than later, perhaps in the next few days.

Link: Ice Breakers: The latest on Ian Cole's suspension by Tampa Bay Lightning - Daily Faceoff

 

[JFleegs]

Frank Seravalli: “The Lightning defenseman Ian Cole met with the NHL’s chief of security officer Jarrod Maples on Wednesday in New York City. That wasn’t necessarily a hearing, moreso an interview. A chance for the NHL to ask questions. He was represented by his own legal team and counsel as well as the Tampa Bay Lightning and NHL Players’ Association in that meeting. Basically where it stands now is the PA, the Cole camp and Lightning are waiting for the NHL — if they have anything — to bring something forward to corroborate what was an anonymous social media post that came from an account that was newly created with some serious and damaging allegations. The thing is the timeline is important here and this is what the NHLPA is pushing: that if there is nothing new, if there’s no corroboration, no one that comes forward relating to that account, then Cole needs to get back on the ice with the Tampa Bay Lightning — the suspension can’t drag on forever. I do think there’s a possibility if there’s nothing new that comes forward, that Cole is back on the ice sooner rather than later, perhaps in the next few days.

Link: Ice Breakers: The latest on Ian Cole's suspension by Tampa Bay Lightning - Daily Faceoff

I mean if this person doesn’t come forward who knows if any of it is true and most likely just someone trying to tarnish his image. Maybe a disgruntled ex fiancé of that media girl, who really knows?

 

[Felonious Python]

I mean if this person doesn’t come forward who knows if any of it is true and most likely just someone trying to tarnish his image. Maybe a disgruntled ex fiancé of that media girl, who really knows?

Cole has played for a bunch of teams, and the Smith tweet doesn't even mention where these events happened.
Missouri, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, Minnesota, or maybe less likely, North Carolina. You could also interpret from the post Illinois, as he bounced between Peoria and St. Louis for a few years.

The intent of the tweet seems based on tarnishing his image (justified or not). Why not talk to journalists or a lawyer? If they wanted a bribe, then everyone should have been prepared for this. No suspension necessary.

Something worth mentioning is who "the fiancé" is. He's a college football coach. Played QB at Navy. Not really the type of guy you'd think would stoop to this. And it's not just that maybe he had a few in him at the time, either. The account was set up at least a week in advance. Pair that with the well written post, and I don't buy it. Coaches can't write that well when they're sober.

Anecdotally, the fiancé came across very well online when the story first broke.

There may be significance to the date it was posted, but I don't think that two sports industry people would schedule their wedding for Oct 7.

 

[Outl4w]

Based off of the post they have not even verified or met with the accuser to verify and gather any facts. It seems more and more this was a witchhunt to ruin him. I hope I am right but if I am wrong then cut him . Then let LE and the league do their jobs.

 

[These Are The Days]

Sitting here and hoping some poor girl didn't get molested/raped/groomed by an athlete is becoming an all too frequent practice. This has to stop man. I'm not saying "When an athlete does it they're more severely punished" either, but that it just starts somewhere. Like have a victim's advocate speak for 10 minutes in the first team meeting of the season and give the players a hotline number they can call anonymously and the NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL takes it from there. You won't create an out of control police state doing that either. But if they already do something like this then athletes are failing the system and the importance of stepping up needs to be emphasized.

 

[Felonious Python]

NHL players live in a bit of a bizarro world where they're technically famous, so people just make stuff up about them all the time. You think about the celebrity hoaxes. Elvis sightings, Paul McCartney being replaced by an imposter, Avril Lavigne being replaced by an imposter, false quotes, theories about political figures, Steve from Blues Clues being dead, Mikey from the Life Cereal commercial had his head explode from eating pop rocks and soda, etc.

It's a completely foreign way of living to us. That's the problem with most of the suggestions I see. They're trying to work with people who deal with the same reality the rest of us do.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

NHL players live in a bit of a bizarro world where they're technically famous, so people just make stuff up about them all the time. You think about the celebrity hoaxes. Elvis sightings, Paul McCartney being replaced by an imposter, Avril Lavigne being replaced by an imposter, false quotes, theories about political figures, Steve from Blues Clues being dead, Mikey from the Life Cereal commercial had his head explode from eating pop rocks and soda, etc.

It's a completely foreign way of living to us. That's the problem with most of the suggestions I see. They're trying to work with people who deal with the same reality the rest of us do.

except ian cole actually is an amoral shit and if this is an entirely fabricated revenge story, it's likely still because of his past unethical decisions and not because he is a famous individual. so i disagree with this whole theory

 

[Felonious Python]

except ian cole actually is an amoral shit and if this is an entirely fabricated revenge story, it's likely still because of his past unethical decisions and not because he is a famous individual. so i disagree with this whole theory

I don't think it applies to a specific player. It's just the atmosphere in major league sports. If you're conditioned to be skeptical of everything, then you can fall for the things that do happen.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[LightningStrikes]

Looks like he’s hiding!

 

[Felonious Python]

A bit of an update. At 5:22 pm, the NHL Twitter account tweeted at the Emily Smith account, asking them to DM back.

The Smith account had closed the replies to only those tagged in the initial tweet.

edit: I also found out that the actor who played Mikey is director of media sales for MSG Network.

 

[MattM92]

Behind a bit on this news and not sure where it stands at the moment, but I am always skeptical of anonymous "coming out" posts like this. I know it's easier said than done, but for these accusations to be credible there needs to be verifiable information. Identity of a victim, time that everything happened, place where it happened. Anyone can just say that horrible things happened with no verifiable evidence, especially if it is "years" after the events supposedly happened.

I have no love for Ian Cole and if it can be proven that he sexually groomed a minor, he should be in prison. Until there is something more than an anonymous victim and vague accusations of something that allegedly happened an unknown length of time ago in an unknown place, I'm not really going to believe it.

 

[ccman68]

i think the person just wanted to get it off her chest. i believe her but if she doesn’t want to help the nhl investigation then this probably isn’t going anywhere.

we will just have to live with a year of cole i guess

 

[Rschmitz]

f*** Ian Cole but there should be a rule against suspending players because of anonymous accusations.

 

[ccman68]

f*** Ian Cole but there should be a rule against suspending players because of anonymous accusations.

it’s basically a paid vacation. missing a few hockey games isn’t the end of the world

 

[Stormbreaker]

 

[MattM92]

About what I expected. For all we know it could have happened, but it can't be expected that we take someone's livelihood and potentially have them face criminal charges with zero evidence.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

I don't like this at all solely based on the information that they could not reach the potential victim. That's the most important part to this investigation. Thus that still leaves this opened ended imo. Finding out if this person's story was credible or not would (hopefully) either completely clear Cole's name or be the nail in his coffin. Either way we'd have an answer. The NHL can't be expected to wait forever, but ugh this was the worst news.

 

[These Are The Days]

f*** Ian Cole but there should be a rule against suspending players because of anonymous accusations.

You don't let a guilty man play. Not that Cole was. It looks like there's not enough to go on. With that said, you simply make sure he's compensated for the headache and the world will all move on.

I agree it's a shitty move but it's nothing compared to men who actually do what he was accused of

 

[These Are The Days]

I don't like this at all solely based on the information that they could not reach the potential victim. That's the most important part to this investigation. Thus that still leaves this opened ended imo. Finding out if this person's story was credible or not would (hopefully) either completely clear Cole's name or be the nail in his coffin. Either way we'd have an answer. The NHL can't be expected to wait forever, but ugh this was the worst news.

I wanted answers too. The good news is, whoever she is, she still has time to come forward to the NHL. But you're right, they can't wait forever. But I'm sure if she finds a way to the front offices of the NHL, they'll absolutely hear everything again and follow up.

I don't want to see this just disappear either. Whoever this person is I hope they follow up

 

[ccman68]

he could be guilty he could not be who knows. the amount of men that are walking free in this world after comitting sexual crimes is huge. nothing much the team can do about it though if the accuser doesn’t want to take it further.

i doubt cole gives a shit about missing 3 games of hockey. and he isn’t so famous that this will affect his life in any real way. at most he’ll see some mean comments on twitter.

 

[Hoek]

it’s basically a paid vacation. missing a few hockey games isn’t the end of the world

It's a bit concerning if someone did it to a star player in the middle of a playoff series though.

If whoever is behind this really didn't want him to get away with it and play any more they probably should've posted that the moment he became a free agent. Then maybe nobody would've signed him in the first place.

 

[Felonious Python]

he could be guilty he could not be who knows. the amount of men that are walking free in this world after comitting sexual crimes is huge. nothing much the team can do about it though if the accuser doesn’t want to take it further.

i doubt cole gives a shit about missing 3 games of hockey. and he isn’t so famous that this will affect his life in any real way. at most he’ll see some mean comments on twitter.

I'd say it would have a larger impact because he's not super famous. We don't really look at the life of Patrick Kane or Kobe Bryant that way. Mike Tyson too, for that matter, and he got convicted.

 

[larueskee]

I'm sure Cole's lawyers and the Lightening are considering their legal options right now. Cole might have a possible defamation lawsuit available to him and the club might be able to get some damages.

 

[Point21]

I guess Tuesday will be interesting. will he be greeted with boos when they announce his name during introductions? will they even play him tuesday? How will the rest of the league treat him?