And right after I leave town, look what happens.
In what appears to be two separate incidents, the Bakersfield Condors have suspended their coach and assistant coach for an “internal matter,” and one of their players was arrested.
First, the coaches. From the Bakersfield Californian:
Condors coach Marty Raymond has been suspended for seven days and assistant coach Mark Pederson has been suspended indefinitely over “an internal matter,” team President Matthew Riley confirmed Monday.
The organization has issued a gag order on all employees, including players, and the only comment, other than “no comment,” has come from Riley.
“As an organization, we value our coaches, players and staff, and respect their privacy,” Riley said. “Therefore, no other comments will be provided.”
So basically, no one knows anything. The Condors aren’t talking to anyone, but this is the minors. The fans are right there, and have a close relationship with the team. The GM of the team was sitting about six rows in front of me for both Condors games I attended. I doubt he will be sitting there tonight.
From the same article:
Former Condors Scott Hay and Sean Venedam will serve as interim coaches and run practices for the next week, Riley said. Hay is general manager of the Bakersfield Ice Sports Center and the team’s goalie coach. Venedam is a former team captain whose career ended last February when he suffered a severe break of his left leg.
Hay was on my team for the Hockey-thon, and was a goalie for the Alumni game. I’m sure this is the last thing he needed.
As for the player that was arrested, also from the Bakersfield Californian:
Recently-acquired Condors forward Danny LaPointe was arrested Monday morning and charged with two felony counts and two misdemeanors.
Bakersfield Police Department officers arrested LaPointe at 6:40 a.m. He was charged with felony counts of willful cruelty to child, assault, and misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and vandalism.
There is a lot that can be speculated on just from that last sentence. Nothing is really known yet, but I’m sure details will follow soon.
If you want to see a pissed off fan base, wait until this guy retakes the ice. The Condors fans I met take their players into their hearts and communities. The Hockey-thon was set up by a former player, some former players still live in town and contribute to the hockey community. They were participating in the hockey-thon. One story I was told had the coach taking a player to task for brushing off a kid in a grocery store. This is a team that means a lot to the city and the hockey community. You can imagine there is going to be fallout.
This is not how a hockey fanbase is going to want to remember what was (and now it could be firmly in the “was” category) and amazing weekend of hockey and community.