OHL hazing

[Otto]

'We had failed Dan and the other players': OHL commissioner calls abuse allegations 'sickening' | CBC Sports

There is no excuse for Branch's lack of actions. An accusation is made- you investigate.....sweep, sweep.

Again... at that point it's a he said/he said argument... unless the players are willing to press charges or go to the media then nothing was going to get settled.

 

[Tarantula]

The president of the Canadian Hockey League admits his organization failed the players under its care.
David Branch says he didn't know how bad things were for Daniel Carcillo and other players who went public this week with allegations of brutal hazing.
In an interview with CBC Sports, Branch called their allegations "sickening."
"We had failed Dan and the other players involved in my view, and it's shocking. You know, I don't know how else to put it," said Branch, who is also the commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League.

I think Branch himself seems to admit not doing enough now. One reason for a company or organization to come out is to avoid what is happening now, years later, when the matter does come out and having the bad optics of a potential cover up. If Branch had a thorough investigation and a solid course of action the black eye from this would have melted away and perhaps Winsor would not have happened. Also would have gotten some credit for cleaning this issue up and bringing it to light for a discussion amongst the junior hockey world in general.

Just looks worse now in retrospect, many years later the way it was handled IMHO.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

Branch failed PR 101 don't make a 1 day story turn into a 1 week story. You can say it's the ole boys club, frat boy garbage but it's still going on look no further than St Mikes College. Sarnia and Branch failed Carcillo and failed the OHL/CHL in the process. Let me guess though because 13 years has passed it's all good.... Branch is a dinosaur but of course like I said earlier the rest of the league gives him the thumbs up so they're culpable for this garbage as well.

 

[youngblood10]

Branch should step down or be removed. Just how he drops big punishment on players who's actions or lack of action in this case unintentionally hurts or harm players or makes the league bad in the media. Regardless if he went to Sarnia or not, this happened under his watch. He needs to take real responsibility & remorse isn't enough.

 

[Otto]

OHL coaches Wellwood, Kyrzakos call hazing’s phaseout ‘astronomical’ | The Star

Did it go on? Absolutely. Was it a part of the culture in the OHL previously? Yeah,” said Kyrzakos, an assistant coach with the Mississauga Steelheads. “But it’s not now and hasn’t been for a long long time. I really give the league and commissioner Dave Branch credit.
“I don’t know that there’s a more progressive league in the world, not just when it comes to hazing but head hits, fighting, all that stuff.”

But ya.. throw Branch out of the league....smh

 

[rangersblues]

Branch did admittedly fix a terrible situation. He also covered up that situation by not calling for outside investigation. Jeff Perry was allowed to continue coaching and run hockey organizations. What if these new allegations against Perry were even more serious? We have no way of knowing what they could have been as everything was swept under the carpet. I stand by my original statement that Branch should be accountable for the cover-up.

Embattled ex-OHL coach once probed for treatment of youth players

 

[EvenSteven]

Branch did admittedly fix a terrible situation. He also covered up that situation by not calling for outside investigation. Jeff Perry was allowed to continue coaching and run hockey organizations. What if these new allegations against Perry were even more serious? We have no way of knowing what they could have been as everything was swept under the carpet. I stand by my original statement that Branch should be accountable for the cover-up.

Embattled ex-OHL coach once probed for treatment of youth players

Not lost on me is the fact Perry wasn't booted from the Sting by Branch for his "part" in the hazing. Interesting that just a little while ago, there was Perry at center ice in London being celebrated as part of the 2005 London Knights team.

The issue in Sarnia was covered by Branch. And if not for the hazing issues in Windsor becoming public thanks to the video of the Downie crosscheck on Aliu and the Aliu family going public, we'd wouldn't have heard about that either and Moe Mantha is likely not suspended.

Branch didn't suspend Mantha for the hazing, he suspended him because it became public and therefore, put a black mark on the league.

 

[EvenSteven]

Further, shortly after the Carcillo stuff hit the media, Mike Farwell had Branch on his daytime show to give him an opportunity to discuss the issue.

Instead of asking Branch the tough questions, the interview was no more than an opportunity to allow Branch to wax poetic on how great the OHL is and how strict they are with stuff like hazing.

When Branch mentioned that the Downie/Aliu Windsor incident was the first time he was made aware of such drastic hazing, Farwell should've asked him what about the incident in Sarnia two years earlier? Instead, Branch got a pass in the interview.

When Branch said that yes, he investigated the Carcillo complaint, he went on to say that he was assured by the coaching staff in Sarnia that it was nothing more than a couple very minor incidents. Nothing to see here.

So what he did in other words, was to take the coaches' word over the player's. Whatever it takes to keep everything quiet. And as Carcillo said, the hazing continued past that season - just not as much since guys like Carcillo eventually became the veterans and chose not to take part.

Had Branch reacted properly to the Carcillo complaints, maybe Windsor doesn't happen.

And if Windsor wasn't brought to light, then the hazing likely continues.

 

[Tarantula]

Otto doth protest too much.

 

[Tarantula]

To paraphrase Bill Shakespeare, a great playmaker....

 

[Otto]

Otto doth protest too much.

I'm not the one laying blame...

I'm just amazed at the amount of people here that apparently seem to know what was and wasn't done, but never said a thing about it before it broke in the news. I'm also surprised at how people seem to think that because the OHL didn't announce any of this stuff at the time is somehow equates to a "cover up" . .again, if the players didn't go to the media about it then what benefit is there to the OHL to release any information? You don't see it in any other privately owned business, why is the OHL any different?