'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
WARNING: Readers may find details in this story to be disturbing
The ECHL suspended Jacob Panetta on Sunday after the brother of longtime NHL defencemen P.K. Subban accused the Jacksonville defencemen of making "monkey gestures" in his direction.
The league said the indefinite suspension is pending a hearing under its collective bargaining agreement with its players. Jacksonville then announced it had to decided to cut Panetta.
The incident with Panetta and Jordan Subban, which occurred 23 seconds into overtime during the Icemen's 1-0 home victory over South Carolina on Saturday, comes in the wake of minor league forward Krystof Hrabik's 30-game suspension for making a racial gesture during a Jan. 12 AHL game.
Video posted by P.K. Subban on Twitter shows Panetta taking a monkey-like pose while Jordan Subban is being led away by an official. Jordan Subban, who is Black, then skates back toward Panetta and the two lock up at the beginning of a multiplayer skirmish.
In a post on his Twitter account, Jordan Subban said Panetta "was too much of a coward" to fight him.
"As I began to turn my back he started making monkey gestures at me so I punched him in the face multiple times and he turtled like the coward he is," Subban posted.
Panetta posted a video on Twitter on Sunday, with a tweet that said "racism has no place in this world and no place in the game we love." Panetta said he told Subban that "You're only tough when the refs get involved,"' and then "did a tough-guy bodybuilder-like gesture toward him" that Panetta said he's made to other players in other games.
"My actions toward Jordan were not because of race, and were not intended as a racial gesture. I did not contemplate at the time that it would be received as a racial gesture, and I attempted to convey this to Jordan when we were sent to the dressing room during the game," he said.
"I see now from Jordan's reaction that he and others certainly viewed it as a racial gesture, and that my actions have caused a great deal of anger ... I want to express to everyone, especially Jordan, that my actions were not racially motivated at all, and I sincerely apologize for the pain and suffering and anger that my actions have caused him, his family and everyone who has been hurt by this," Panetta added.
P.K. Subban addressed the situation again Sunday night after the Kings-Devils game, saying that his family doesn't need "pity from anyone," and that "we have to bring people together, and hopefully this is another step in doing that."
"No one felt sorry for us when we went through our experience, so we don't expect anybody to feel sorry and we don't expect anybody to really understand that isn't Black," he said, adding later, "This is life for us. And that's what sad -- this is life for people that look like me who have gone through in the game of hockey. And that's part of the history, whether we like it or not, and we're trying to change that."
Stingrays President Rob Concannon said the team was "disgusted and appalled" by what happened.
"Our organization stands in support of our friend and teammate, Jordan, as well as all other players who continue to deal with racism and discrimination," Concannon said in a statement posted on the team's Twitter account. "This behavior has to stop and is unacceptable."
The Icemen first said the organization would " make comments and decisions " after the ECHL reviewed the incident. Team CEO Andy Kaufmann announced Panetta's release later in the day.
"Though the investigation and review is ongoing at the league level, the Jacksonville Icemen will be releasing the player involved effectively immediately and will continue our mission of sharing our love of community and hockey," Kaufmann said.
Jacksonville is affiliated with the New York Rangers, and South Carolina is a Washington Capitals affiliate.
------
Allan Kreda in Newark, N.J., contributed to this report.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.