UPDATE — January 6, 2023: Nelson Leafs head coach Adam DiBella resigned Friday morning following the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s decision to suspend him for the remainder of the regular season. Read it last story here.
A major BC regional junior hockey league has issued a series of suspensions following a fight between players on New Years Eve.
In his statement On Tuesday, the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) said it suspended Nelson Leafs players a total of 35 games and Beaver Valley Nitehawks players eight games due to an on-ice fight involving both teams in December 31.
The league said it happened in the opening face-off of the second period.
Four Leafs players, including Tyler Seminoff, Leighton Partington, Hunter Sperle and Ryland Mennie, received the heaviest penalties among disciplined players.
They were each suspended for eight games, including three for participating in a staged fight and five for inciting fights, according to the league.
Another Leafs player, Marko Pavlovic, was suspended for three games.
Four Nitehawks players, including Gavin Tritt, Boris Hristov, Spencer Dixon-Reusz and Kaleb Percival, have each been suspended for two games.
The league says the players are eligible to return later this month, but it has decided to suspend Leafs head coach Adam DiBella indefinitely, pending the completion of its investigation into his actions during the game in question.
WATCH | Players battle after puck drop in KIJHL game on New Year’s Eve:
Nelson Leafs and Beaver Valley Nitehawks players are penalized for a multi-fight incident on Dec. 31.
Leafs coach under investigation
KIJHL director of communications Emanuel Sequeira said that in his time with the league he had not seen so many disciplinary measures imposed on teams at once.
Referring to DiBella’s indefinite suspension, Taylor McKee, a sports management professor at Brock University in Ontario, said he felt like the Leafs coach ordered the players to start the fight.
“It certainly felt like they were allowed to do it,” he told host Chris Walker on CBC. South Dawn.
McKee adds that he’s surprised a young coach like DiBella, 29, is allowing fights in the game because hockey has become less violent over the years.
CBC News asked KIJHL Commissioner Jeff Dubois to comment, but Sequeira said Dubois would issue a statement on the suspensions once the DiBella investigation is complete.
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