I find it interesting that you printed a story in the recent paper about what had happened between the Smoke Eaters and Nitehawks (Hockey dispute spills over to parking lot, Trail Times Jan. 8).
I would have thought that you would have done some research on the recent events that had happened, like the fact that a player wants to be released from the Smoke Eaters due to internal issues.
It is a shame when politics get involved in hockey and young kids that want to play a game they love get mistreated and are then stuck in a place they don’t want to be. In return is not good for either side.
I also read nothing about the repercussions of the bus driver who crept the bus ahead to attempt to push the Nitehawk players out of the way. Was the bus driver told by someone on the bus to do this? Did Terry Jones ask the players to come down?
We don’t know this for sure, did you ask him?
In regards to Mr. Santori’s response, I find it no surprise that a former politician would respond without looking into the whole story, however this was your second chance to get both sides of the story before printing. Fail again!
I actually think what the Nitehawks did, shows why they are a championship team, a dedicated coach standing up for the rights of his player, and a team standing up for their teammate.
Maybe the Smoke Eaters should take a lesson and they will one day put a winning team on the ice and bring some fans back to the Cominco arena.
I do not expect that you guys will publish this article in the paper as it shows numerous reporting errors that were made, but I do expect that you will look further into the details and possibly respond.
Andy Gagnon
Fruitvale