Music: {allcanada} Hockey coach's suspension lifted

Monday, December 20, 2010

{allcanada} Hockey coach's suspension lifted

An Ontario minor hockey coach who was suspended after a racial slur prompted him to pull his team from the ice said Monday that the Ontario Minor Hockey Association has rescinded the suspension.

Greg Walsh, a coach from Peterborough, Ont., called CBC News to confirm that the suspension had been lifted.

The OMHA also confirmed the move.

"The board met behind closed doors yesterday and decided to end Walsh's suspension," OMHA director Richard Ropchan said. "This is the right decision to move forward."

Walsh, the coach of the NAPA Auto Parts team, pulled his team from the ice after one of his players was the target of a racial slur from the opposing team.

On Nov. 15, one of Walsh's players on the NAPA Auto Parts team, Andrew McCullum, 16, was sent to the penalty box along with a rival from the Austin Trophies.

While they were in the Kinsmen Arena penalty box, the boys heckled one another. McCullum told his coach that the opposing player directed the N-word at him.

The referee benched both players for the rest of the period, but when the offending player came out to start the third period, Walsh and his team left the ice. That move was against the rules of Hockey Canada, the sport's national governing body.

The Ontario Minor Hockey Association last week decided to suspend Walsh from the Peterborough Minor Hockey Association Midget House League until April 10.

The ruling came after a Dec. 11 hearing into the incident.