A Nelson junior hockey coach accused a visiting Kamloops player of racially taunting one of his team members during a Kootenay International Junior Hockey League game Saturday.

After the Leafs乌鸦传媒� 4-2 win over the Kamloops Storm, assistant coach Adam DiBella was furious with what he said had been insensitive remarks toward a player throughout the game.

乌鸦传媒淪ometimes winning a game is more than just two points,乌鸦传媒� said DiBella.

乌鸦传媒淲hen there is awful, racial language being directed toward our bench from their players 乌鸦传媒� it just makes you want to get the win even more. Quite honestly, there乌鸦传媒檚 not a lot of place, not even in the game but in society, for anything like that.乌鸦传媒�

DiBella declined to name the players involved. He said he complained to the officiating crew during the game, but nothing came of it.

乌鸦传媒淚 don乌鸦传媒檛 blame the refs one bit,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淭hey told me they乌鸦传媒檇 look out for it, but they can乌鸦传媒檛 make a call they didn乌鸦传媒檛 hear.乌鸦传媒�

Storm head coach Steve Gainey said he heard nothing from the officials and thought there may have been a misunderstanding.

乌鸦传媒淥ne of the things that came out was he said, 乌鸦传媒榃e乌鸦传媒檙e back, baby乌鸦传媒� and the kid took it as 乌鸦传媒榃e black, baby.乌鸦传媒� So I think there乌鸦传媒檚 a place where the kid might be a little sensitive and maybe had it happen in the past, which is understandable,乌鸦传媒� said Gainey.

乌鸦传媒淲e looked at it on the bench right away as soon as it came up, because it is obviously something that we would take really seriously within our own organization. So that was the response we got and it was kind of the end of it on our end. 乌鸦传媒� Nobody in our group, when I challenged the situation, said anything like that came out.乌鸦传媒�

Both DiBella and Gainey were tossed from the game late in the third period.

The next day, Gainey told Kamloops This Week that Leafs players surrounded the Storm乌鸦传媒檚 bus with five cars after the game.

乌鸦传媒淭here was just a lot of continued emotion carried forward from the game from them, in their excitement to win and our frustration in the loss, having gone through a real emotional game on the ice with the amount of drama that we乌鸦传媒檙e talking about,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淔or it to carry off the ice was a challenging thing for our boys to deal with.乌鸦传媒�

Leafs head coach Mario DiBella told the Star his players did not surround the Storm乌鸦传媒檚 bus and Gainey was not telling the truth.

乌鸦传媒淭hat乌鸦传媒檚 a poor excuse for bad conduct by their coaching staff,乌鸦传媒� said DiBella.

Cole Wyatt scored twice, Shawn Campbell and Reid Wilson had singles and Anderson Violette made 18 saves for the Leafs (11-2-3), who won their 11th straight game.

Chris Thon scored twice for the Storm (4-12-1), who lost for the seventh consecutive contest. Goaltender Ethan Paulin-Hatch stopped 22 shots for Kamloops.

乌鸦传媒� With files from Kamloops This Week reporter Marty Hastings

tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com
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