Trevor Beggs, who covers the Vancouver Canucks for Daily Hive Vancouver, says that the team revoked his press credential and removed him from the rink during Thursday’s game after he published a story about a business owned by the team owners that has been named in a U.S. federal indictment.

Beggs, who has been covering the Canucks for Daily Hive Vancouver since 2019 and also co-hosts the Locked On Canucks podcast, says that he was escorted out of the building during Thursday’s game and his press pass was taken away from him.

“I’ve got to apologize to the fans of Locked On Canucks because last night I got my press pass taken away. And I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m getting it back. We’ll see how it goes,” Beggs said on Friday’s episode of the podcast.

“I wrote a story yesterday about the Aquilini family, a case they were involved in. Patrick Johnston has also written something similar if you want to check it out in The Province. He didn’t like it. So in the first intermission, I was removed from the rink and asked to give my press pass back. We redacted the article at Daily Hive, so we’ll see where it goes.

“But that was an interesting experience last night to, you know, mid-game, be ushered out the building. I talked to a few guys. I think I might be the only reporter who’s been kicked out mid-game before. But you know what? It’s part of life, man. It happens. It happens in the world of journalism.”

The Canucks (21-42-8) lost 4-0 at home to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

The story by The Province’s Patrick Johnston that Beggs mentions is titled, “Aquilinis distance themselves from labour contractor under U.S. federal indictment.” It’s about Aquilini Vineyards, a Washington State vineyard founded by the family that owns the Canucks, which is attempting to distance itself from Harvest Plus, a local firm facing an indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Washington over accusations that it forged information on visa applications for Mexican laborers brought to the United States. According to the indictment, several Harvest Plus workers were at Aquilini Vineyards in 2022.

The vineyard ceased making its own wine last year.

As Beggs noted, his article about the indictment on Daily Hive Vancouver is no longer live, and any social posts appear to have been deleted.

As part of his PJ’s Ponderings column, Johnston wrote Saturday about Beggs’ removal, saying that while all reporters understand that teams can push back on coverage, even to the point of revoking credentials, this specific instance appears to be having the opposite impact that the Canucks owners might have intended.

“Being pulled from the building is [as] big as it gets. And it’s now drawn attention to a story that wasn’t drawing much attention before,” Johnston wrote. “This is what’s known as the Streisand effect. Daily Hive’s Trevor Beggs was removed from the rink on Thursday. He believes it’s because of how he framed a story. Rather than asking him to retract or rework the story and suggesting that a failure to do so would lead to him being barred from the building, the Canucks jumped to the conclusion.

“That is their right. We all understand it. But now people are talking about it. For the first time in modern memory, the Canucks have put a reporter on the pavement while a game was being played.”

The Aquilini Investment Group, headed by Francesco Aquilini, bought a 50 percent share in Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment (which owned the Canucks and Rogers Arena). In 2006, Francesco and his brothers Roberto and Paolo purchased the remaining 50 percent. The company changed its name to Canucks Sports & Entertainment in 2008, and Francesco remains the chairman.

Awful Announcing has reached out to Beggs and the Vancouver Canucks for comment and clarification. We will update the story if we receive responses.