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The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) has fined the Barrie Colts $15,000 after Monday night’s post-playoff game news conference, where the coach and team captain gave only one response: “No one cares, work harder.”<\/p>\n
The fine was handed down two days after the Colts’ 5-0 road win over the Brantford Bulldogs in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final, allowing them to move on to the OHL title series against the Kitchener Rangers.<\/p>\n
At the brief media availability, Colts head coach Dylan Smoskowitz and captain Kashawn Aitcheson refused to respond to media questions with little more than that catchphrase.<\/p>\n
Aitcheson, for example, was asked about his goal and the play of his teammate, goaltender Ben Hrebik, who made 40 saves.<\/p>\n
“Uh, no one cares, work harder,” the defenceman responded.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Barrie Colts’ post-Game 7 news conference:<\/p>\n
When Smoskowitz was asked how it felt to lose Game 4 by a 6-1 score, and come back to win the series, he answered, “It’s a good question. No one cares, work harder.”<\/p>\n
In a Tuesday interview with TSN’s Overdrive that the Colts have pinned to the top of their X account, Smoskowitz took the blame for the responses. He said he was reacting to being told he couldn’t have the whole team with him for the media availability.<\/p>\n
“All year long, it’s been about this brotherhood,” he said to the Overdrive hosts.<\/p>\n
“Instead of being an adult about it, and being mature about it and saying, ‘OK, no problem, let’s go and have a normal press conference as per usual,’ I kind of went the other way with it. And it was a decision that’s, you know, I regret immediately.”<\/p>\n
Smoskowitz said the Brantford series was a good one, and the decision to answer media questions with one phrase “was a big oopsie and something that I’ll learn from.”<\/p>\n
He added Aitcheson was “just being a good soldier” and doing what he was told.<\/p>\n
“He is an outstanding human being.”<\/p>\n
OHL calls comments ‘highly unprofessional’<\/p>\n
In issuing the fine, the OHL said it was “for conduct detrimental to the public perception of the league.”<\/p>\n
“The OHL holds its member teams and their personnel to the highest standards of professional conduct,” it said in a brief statement.<\/p>\n
“The post-game comments in question were determined to be highly unprofessional and represented a disservice to the dedicated media members who provide coverage of the Ontario Hockey League.”<\/p>\n
CBC News reached out to the Colts for comment about the fine, but hadn’t heard back by time of publication.<\/p>\n
Championship series begins in Kitchener<\/p>\n
The Colts will be on the road tonight to start their quest for the J. Ross Robertson Cup against the Western Conference champion Rangers.<\/p>\n
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