The launch of a new Avalon East Senior Hockey League season has been marred by an off-ice altercation between some players and fans in Harbour Grace, with the town council promising severe consequences for those involved and the visiting team criticizing security measures and the availability of alcohol at the Danny Cleary Community Centre.
The Oct. 26 game between the visiting Clarenville Ford Caribous and the host HGOE CeeBee Stars turned into a penalty-filled affair in the third period, with the CeeBees running up the score against their rivals.
The tension spilled off the ice with less than 10 minutes remaining as one of the league’s top players, Clarenville’s Justin Pender, reacted violently to some taunting as he made his way to the dressing room after being ejected from the game.
Pender has received a three-game suspension from league officials. Pender and one of the fans involved may also be banned from entering the town-owned arena, Mayor Don Coombs confirmed on Monday.
After being ejected from an Oct. 26 Avalon East Senior Hockey League game, Clarenville’s Justin Pender was taunted by fan John Drover, one of four fans who had made their way to the hallway area near the dressing rooms. The CBC’s Terry Roberts reports on the violent off-ice altercation that has sparked anger and calls for tighter security measures.
“I was shocked,” Coombs said of the security camera footage that captured the incident.
“You can’t come into public buildings and and act in that manner, no matter what the reason.”
The town council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to vote on a recommendation from the arena liaison committee.
“There will be consequences to the actions that were taken,” Coombs said.
Pender throws broken stick at fans
CBC News has obtained a copy of security camera footage, which shows four male fans making their way to the hallway entrance beneath the arena bleachers, where the dressing rooms are located.
One of the fans, John Drover of Bay Roberts, can be seen gesturing at Pender as the player enters the hallway from the ice surface.
Pender stops and throws the broken shaft of his stick at the fans from a distance of nearly 10 metres, and it lands harmlessly at Drover’s feet.
Pender then starts walking aggressively toward the fans, fully clad in his hockey gear and already incensed from an earlier outburst on the ice in which he confronted the CeeBees’ bench and smashed his stick on the leg of an opposing player as an official was escorting Pender off the ice. Video of that on-ice skirmish has been shared widely on social media.
Meanwhile, a young boy can be seen on the security video entering the hallway entrance, but quickly retreats when he sees Pender — who stands six feet four inches, weighs 215 pounds and has a reputation for playing an edgy, tough style of hockey — storming toward him.
However, Drover stands his ground as Pender reaches the end of the hallway. It’s at this point that Pender, wearing his bulky hockey gloves, starts throwing punches at Drover.
Pender’s teammate, Thomas Hedges, who was also ejected from the game, can also be seen running down the hallway behind Pender.
Standing up for childhood friends
Some of the fracas is not captured by the security camera, so it’s not clear if Hedges is throwing punches or trying to extricate his teammate from the melee. Caribous’ general manager Ivan Hapgood is also seen walking down the hallway and out of the camera frame.
Pender declined comment when contacted by CBC News, but John Drover spoke briefly when reached by phone on Monday.
“It is what it is,” Drover said when asked about the incident.
Drover said his “spur of the moment” decision to taunt Pender stemmed from the fact that Pender was targeting his “childhood friends” on the ice.
Drover said he had no regrets about his actions, and said “someone needs to take care of a fellow like that.”
When asked what he said to Pender, Drover said he “asked what his problem was.”
Drover said he was hit once by Pender, but that he was not injured.
“You win some, you lose some,” said Drover, adding that he has been contacted by town officials about a possible ban from the Harbour Grace arena.
Hapgood supports Pender
Meanwhile, Hapgood said he had not seen the video, and does not condone violence. But he criticized arena management for not providing better security for the players. Hapgood said he also witnessed alcohol being consumed in the arena, which he said may have fuelled the situation.
The arena is licensed to sell alcohol, a town official confirmed.
“I’m a firm believer that with the proper security measures in place, the incident would never happen in the first place,” said Hapgood, who strongly defended Pender’s character and his place on the team.
Pender, 36, who is playing his eighth season with the Caribous, won a senior hockey championship with the team in 2018 and was named the league’s top defenceman last season. He played semi-pro hockey in the ECHL, and played four seasons of major junior hockey in the QMJHL.
He strikes an imposing presence on the ice with his big body, full beard and in-your-face style of hockey, but he’s also a skilled player who often factors on the scoresheet.
A quick internet search reveals Pender is no stranger to on-ice fisticuffs, and he also made waves at the 2013 world ball hockey championships in St. John’s, when he initiated a brawl against a superior Czech Republic team during a semi-final game that resulted in a lengthy suspension by Canada Ball Hockey.
Despite his reputation, Hapgood called Pender a “great ambassador” who is adored by the Clarenville fans and that Pender is “80 per cent ahead of everybody else on the team.”
“I’ll stand with him until the day he dies,” Hapgood said.
The Caribous are appealing Pender’s three-game suspension, and Hapgood said he would not comment on any possible sanctions levied by the town council.
The mayor of Harbour Grace, meanwhile, hopes that a similar incident will never happen again, at any arena in the country.
“We hope that people still feel safe to go into the building and we’re going to do our best as a council,” Coombs said.
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