The ECHL has suspended Jacksonville Icemen defenseman Jacob Panetta indefinitely pending a hearing for what South Carolina Stingrays defenseman Jordan Subban said was racist taunting Saturday night.
The Icemen later announced that they will be releasing Panetta.
“To be clear, our core values as an ownership group include a love and zero tolerance for racism or any other form of hate against any group. The platform that is the Jacksonville Icemen is about more than just hockey to us as a group. It’s about use this platform to spread not only our love of hockey, but also our love of the community and each other,” team CEO Andy Kaufmann said in a statement.
“Although the investigation and review are ongoing at the league level, the Jacksonville Icemen will release the player involved effective immediately and continue our mission to share our love of the community and hockey. On behalf of the entire Icemen organization, We apologize to anyone who was offended and look forward to beginning the healing process together as one. Thank you.”
The announcement came hours after the team issued an initial statement saying it was cooperating with the ECHL’s review of the incident.
Stingrays team president Rob Concannon said in a statement that his organization was “shocked by the incident.”
“Our organization stands with our friend and teammate, Jordan, as well as every other player who continues to deal with racism and discrimination. This behavior is unacceptable and must stop,” he said.
The game was in overtime when South Carolina’s Andrew Cherniwchan collided with Jacksonville goaltender Justin Kapelmaster, sparking a scuffle between the teams. According to Subban, he tried to engage Panetta in a fight. Panetta responded by allegedly mocking Subban, who is black.
“As soon as I started turning my back he started making monkey faces at me so I punched him in the face a few times and he squirmed like the coward he is.” Subban tweeted.
More like @JPanetta12 he was too cowardly to fight me and as soon as i started to turn my back he started making monkey faces at me so i punched him in the face several times and he flailed like the coward he is. There they fixed it 👍🏾 https://t.co/JtPqpN9wwE
— Jordan Subban (@jordansubban) January 23, 2022
The two fought surrounded by players from both teams. They received major penalties and misconduct penalties that sent them to their locker rooms. Subban’s teammate, Nico Blachman, left the Stingrays bench to hit Panetta and also received a game misconduct.
Jacksonville won the game 1-0 with a power-play goal in overtime. The Icemen are a minor league affiliate of the New York Rangers. The Stingrays are an affiliate of the Washington Capitals.
News of the incident spread quickly on Saturday night when New Jersey Devils defenseman PK Subban, who is Jordan’s older brother, shared a video of Panetta’s taunt and called the ECHL.
“They don’t call the East Coast League the ‘jungle’ because my brother and the other black players are the monkeys! Hey Jacob Panetta, you shouldn’t delete your Twitter or Instagram account so quickly. You’ll probably be able to play again, That’s what history says.” PK Subban tweeted to his 1 million followers.
“But things are changing now. Not only does the hockey world know your true colors, your hometown of Belleville knows, your family and friends know you’re a fraud,” PK Subban wrote. “With everything that has happened in the last two years in the world, I will say with all due respect to everyone who has an opinion, this is not a mistake. We all know what is right and what is not. Even yours.” teammates wanted to see you clean your watch. This happens a lot and is never exposed in the lower leagues.”
The incident came a day after the American Hockey League suspended San Jose Barracuda forward Krystof Hrabik for 30 games after he made a racist gesture toward Boko Imama of the Tucson Roadrunners at a Jan. 12 game. Hrabik, 22, imitated the movements of a monkey in a taunt directed at Imama, who is black.
Hrabik will have the option to participate in training with the NHL Player Inclusion Committee, of which PK Subban is listed as co-chair, to reduce his suspension. He can apply to rejoin the AHL after missing 21 games, and a decision will be “based on an assessment of his progress in necessary education and training” with the Player Inclusion Committee.
Both incidents continue a trend of racist taunts in professional hockey. In 2021, Andrei Deniskin of the Ukrainian Hockey League pantomimed peeling and eating a banana towards Jalen Smereck, who is black. Deniskin was suspended 13 games.
Smereck reacted to the Subban incident on Instagram, writing, “It’s the first month of 2022 and there have already been two racial slurs in the second and third highest leagues in North America. Just think how many are passing at the youth level to youth children we don’t see or know, because the game is not being recorded”.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism