A rural Manitoba high school hockey team has withdrawn from A/AA provincial playoffs and its players made ineligible for their league’s post-season awards and upcoming all-star game amid an RCMP investigation into allegations of hazing, CBC News has learned.
“I don’t know what to do other than to wait to see what happens right now. Mountain Mustangs are a part of our league. … It’s under investigation for the RCMP,” said Mike Watson, president of the Zone IV High School Hockey League.
“I heard that it was a hazing type of incident.”
The Prairie Mountain Mustangs were knocked out of the Zone IV High School Hockey League playoffs on Feb. 17 but because they finished the regular season as the top A/AA team in the league, they would have been one of the two teams representing the league in the A/AA provincial playoffs in Boissevain on Feb. 22-24.
The team did not attend those championships and “asked their team be withdrawn from any consideration of post-season awards” because of “an internal, ongoing matter at the school, disciplinary sort of thing,” Watson said.
“I agreed it was the right thing to do.”
An RCMP spokesperson said the alleged incident was reported to Pembina Valley RCMP in Carman on Feb. 20. Police say it is alleged to have happened in Winnipeg in January.
WATCH | RCMP investigates report of hazing incident involving Manitoba hockey team:
RCMP are investigating a reported incident involving a Manitoba hockey team after a rural school division said it was made aware of hazing allegations.
The Prairie Mountain Mustangs, a co-operative AA varsity boys’ high school hockey team in southern Manitoba, comprises students from Prairie Mountain High School in Somerset, Ecole Regionale Notre Dame in Notre Dame De Lourdes, and Miami School.
The team is registered under both the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association (MHSAA) and Hockey Manitoba.
“We were made aware of an incident with the hockey team a few weeks ago by the Prairie Spirit School Division … they were making the decision to pull the team from our two-way provincial high school hockey championships,” said Chad Falk, executive director of the MHSAA. He had previously confirmed the team’s name in an email.
“We don’t have very much information, just that there was an incident and that they are investigating it.”
Falk said he was “very concerned” when he heard about the allegations.
Still, from his limited conversations with the school division, he said “it sounds like they are working hard at finding who’s responsible for this and I know that they’re trusting in the RCMP, Winnipeg Police Service to do their investigations as well. So I really do hope that justice is found for these alleged victims.”
The Prairie Spirit School Division said it started an internal investigation after it became aware of the allegations, but would not provide additional details. The Prairie Rose School Division has also been made aware, as one of the players is from its division.
In a statement to CBC News Tuesday, the francophone Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine (DSFM) said: “We confirm that DSFM’s students were involved in this hazing incident and that an internal investigation occurred. DSFM is aware of the RCMP’s investigation and will not comment on it as it pertains to the privacy of students and their families.”
“DSFM will not tolerate hazing or any abusive incidents,” the statement continued, adding the division is working to support the students and families involved.
When reached by email, the Mountain Mustangs’ head coach declined comment, saying any questions should be directed to the school division office.
“I’m not at liberty to be sharing any information related to this,” Mike Collet wrote.
CBC News reached one of the players on the team, who said he didn’t know anything about the allegations. Others reached in the community said they have heard rumours of hazing on the team, but no confirmation of any details.
Hockey Manitoba is aware of the investigation, “monitoring it closely,” and waiting for the results of the police investigation, executive director Peter Woods said.
If charges are laid, it could affect players’ eligibility to play next year.
“I think we all recognize the seriousness of something like this,” Woods said.
The Mountain Mustangs team has a strict code of conduct that players and parents must sign. It includes both team events as well as activities before and after games.
“The coach and the management may suspend or remove a player from the team in the event that his behaviour on-ice or off-ice is not in concordance with the expected. Being a member of the Mustangs is considered a privilege,” the document says.
According to Hockey Manitoba’s policies, anyone found to have “condoned, initiated or, to the detriment of another, participated in hazing actions or behaviours shall be subject to discipline up to and including expulsion from Hockey Canada registered programs.”
Anyone failing to co-operate with the investigative process may be subject to suspension.
Reporting is good news
Experts on hazing say the good news is that this alleged incident was reported and is being investigated.
“That meant that whoever did the reporting had the confidence and wherewithal, [the] education to step forward and say, ‘You know what, that wasn’t right,'” said Wayne McNeil, co-founder, with former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy, of the group Respect.
Their group educates people in sports and schools on abuse prevention, including hazing, which can include bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination, which sometimes crosses a line to become sexual assault.
“But regardless of how severe we might perceive the maltreatment to be, it has massive, long-lasting effects, because whether it’s repeated bullying, whether it’s one form of maltreatment versus another, it impacts the brain, especially at a young age. And, you know, these players carry it for the rest of their life,” McNeil said.
But while sport organizations have been educating players, coaches and parents about hazing for years, studies show it’s still happening, said Jay Johnson, a kinesiology professor at the University of Manitoba who has been doing research on hazing in sport for 25 years.
“We had a nationwide study that we conducted in 2018 where we surveyed athletes in youth sports across Canada and we were surprised to find that still two-thirds of those athletes were still reporting hazing taking place.”
There are things teams can do to reduce the chances of it happening, including drafting clear and concise policies around hazing and the consequences, and then following through.
Reports of hazing at the high school or club level are increasing because parents are speaking out, Johnson said.
Still, he acknowledges, it’s a challenge for athletes to come forward because they’re part of the culture of the team.
“For them to kind of break off and be the ones who come forward and be the whistleblowers, you know, historically being the whistleblower has rarely worked out well or in favour of the person blowing the whistle, but it’s usually the first step in changing the culture,” Johnson said.