…and a public press release. Step back and look at all the people who were affected. People have been damaged.
Niagara Icedogs 2024-25 Season Thread, Part IV
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Dogs Enthusiast
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- Sep 25, 2019
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Doesn't matter. I am a customer and not an employee.
People have rights in a workplace and one of those rights is privacy.
People have rights in a workplace and one of those rights is privacy.
Exactly, so why place names of innocent parties in a press release. They become guilty by association.
i think they wont have an issue hiring new employees based on the process they have. those who are applying are aware of the situation.
Dogs Enthusiast
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Not to mention the giant University with a Sports Management program like 4 kms from the arena. The Dogs have a very unique situation.
I don’t think you need to know why people were fired but if the situation involves those people not being able to do x job for a period of time (a suspension) then people should be able to know that information same thing if a fine is involved
thats fair. i dont think there is an official suspension in this isntance, but i also dont think he'll be coaching in the league again for a long time as the most pple league is pretty aware of what happened. hes unofficially suspended. ast coaches maybe not, but they didnt step up and help or do anything to stop anything either.
Why has the OHL not released an official statement, outlining the third party investigation findings, similar to the one issued in 2023? The handling of this information is an embarrassment to the OHL. Some transparency would be appreciated in Niagara
2023
chl.ca
2023
OHL Announces Sanctions Against the Niagara IceDogs Hockey Club - Ontario Hockey League
Sanctions against the Niagara IceDogs Hockey Club result from breaches of the League's Maltreatment, Bullying and Harassment Protection and Prevention Policy as well as the OHL Code of Conduct.
chl.ca
…are you sure of that? May want to reconsider. That’s exactly the kind of speculation that damages reputations.
you certianly seem to have a personal/emotional connection to one of them.
the league obviously felt that they needed to move on as well. heres the thing, i dont know, but i have not heard that they called the league, which they can do and get help, i dont believe that happened (it may have, but no one seems to think it did)
regardless, they can apply and see what happens. they also should have known who they were getting in bed with regarding the owner. its not like he hadnt had issues before they came onboard. we all knew it. when you associate yourself with that type of organization, your reputation is damaged right off the bat.
I wasn’t think about BB I was more thinking about DDD we know the league has told him he’s taking a step back from hockey and business operations but for how long and the last time he got in trouble a fine was involved so why wouldn’t that be the case this time as well
i think they did. its forever. there was no time put on it because there is no more involvement.
Having been involved with a former, now defunct OHL team, I have had the opportunity to watch how investigations go from both sides. I talk with players, parents and agents on an ongoing basis, in Niagara and elsewhere. This particular investigation reeks of ineptness by the OHL. Without doubt there is far more to reveal than the limited information provided so far. Not a single sentence on the player(s) involved in some of the incidents. Why? There are casualties all around but how long can they keep the lid on things.
Dogs Enthusiast
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knowescape
Made you look
The OHL usually bends over backwards to embarrass the Niagara IceDogs. The league has, in the past, taken great joy in flogging the team publicly. The release you quoted is a prime example of the level of detail the OHL usually puts forward related to misconduct.
Yet this time it is much different.
Why, you ask? It's simple. This time around, the OHL is complicit in the situation in Niagara. Unlike the first investigation where DD was a newcomer and an unknown quantity - since 2023, the league knew that he was a problem and turned a blind eye to his continued involvement. They happily cashed DD's punishment cheque and went about their merry way while things spiralled down. Who is supposed to monitor the verdict handed down by the OHL in 2023? None other than the OHL.
The fans, players, staff and parents knew something was amiss, so why didn't the OHL notice and act sooner?
I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of who did what, or who ignored which situation. I'm not sure which players were given a golden ticket by an owner who was barred from being GM but was still in control unless you count the actions of his favourite sock puppet. There have been rumours of impropriety, and allegations hurled both ways. I suspect, like others have stated, the matter will be resolved in civil court or in the corridors just outside.
I think it's fair to guess that the OHL itself will be named in impending lawsuits for failing to uphold their oversight role which resulted in a team to failing. It wouldn't surprise me if the league itself was ordered to make recompense. This would certainly explain their silence compared to previous controversies.
Selection process underway: ‘Significant interest’ in Niagara IceDogs GM vacancy
The general manager will have “full authority” to hire coaches and hockey operations staff.
By Bernd Franke Regional Sports Editor
The Niagara IceDogs should have a new general manager and coaching staff “sometime next month.”
However, the Ontario Hockey League, which has been “working closely to support and advise on the hiring process” since a third-party review into the team’s organizational culture, doesn’t have a set deadline for filling the general manager’s position.
“The role will remain open until a suitable candidate is hired. In the interim, Wes Consorti continues to serve as acting GM,” Josh Sweetland, the league’s communications director, said in an interview.
The position is the key vacancy to fill as the successful candidate will have “full authority” to appoint the coaching and hockey operations staff.
“There has been significant interest in the position, and the selection process is now underway,” Sweetland wrote in an email. “Candidates will participate in a multi-stage interview process.
“Once a final candidate is selected, the League will provide approval.”
While Darren DeDobbelaer, who co-owns the IceDogs with his wife Michelle, has stepped back from day-to-day operations following a review by a Toronto law firm specializing in workplace law, the league is not running the team.
“To clarify, the OHL is not currently operating the day-to-day affairs of the Niagara IceDogs. Darren DeDobbelaer remains owner and Governor of the team,” Sweetland said.
He reiterated that once a general manager is hired, Consorti will move into an executive liaison role between ownership and the team’s operational leadership.
“We anticipate all of the hiring for next season to be complete by sometime next month,” Sweetland said.
Players who signed a Standard Player Agreement (SPA) with the IceDogs that extends into next season remain under contract with the team. Players selected in last month’s OHL draft will be signed to the league’s revised SPA in the coming weeks.
Ben Boudreau was relieved of his duties after nearly two seasons as head coach, and the contracts of assistants Dan Paille and Marc Slawson were not renewed following completion of the comprehensive review.
Boudreau, who was associate coach when he succeeded Ryan Kuwabara as bench boss 15 games into the 2023-24 season, finished 42-67-6-5 overall with the IceDogs, including a 29-31-4-4 record last season, when the team made the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Before joining the IceDogs, Boudreau, a St. Catharines native and the son of one-time National Hockey League coach of the year Bruce Boudreau, spent nine seasons coaching in the ECHL, including four as head coach of the Fort Wayne, Ind., Komets. He led Fort Wayne to a Kelly Cup championship in 2021.
The league launched the review following “multiple complaints of inappropriate behaviour” involving team staff. The players were also under the league microscope before the playoffs started after an incident at the Pen Centre’s Landmark Cinemas on March 25. One of the moviegoers said players, many of whom wore team jackets, behaved “absolutely egregiously” throughout the movie “Black Bag” by “yelling” and “throwing food across the room.”
Discipline imposed by the OHL required each player, including goaltenders, to sit for one period in the opening-round playoff series against the Barrie Colts. Second-seeded Barrie took the best-of-seven quarterfinal against No. 7 seed Niagara in five game games.
— With files from Bill Sawchuk, St. Catharines Standard
Bernd Franke is regional sports editor for St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review and Welland Tribune.
IceDogs owner not selling | BP Sports Niagara
Niagara IceDogs owner Darren DeDobbelaer said he has no intentions of selling the Ontario Hockey League team. File photo: BILL POTRECZ The owner of the Niagara IceDogs says he has no intention of selling the club despite a ruling this week from the Ontario Hockey League stipulating he can no...
www.bpsportsniagara.com
The OHL provided the following response when asked by BPSN how long the current situation will continue.
“The terms of Darren DeDobbelaer’s suspension as handed down by the OHL on May 5, 2023 are set to expire on June 1, 2025. However, Mr. DeDobbelaer’s function moving forward will be that of an owner and governor and he will not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the hockey club in either a hockey operations or business operations capacity. Wes Consorti will move from the role of interim general manager to executive liaison between Mr. DeDobbelaer and the club’s operational leadership.”
It sounds like DD's non-involvement in the day to day operations of the IceDogs is permanent.
I get what your saying but teams usually give their fans a general idea as to why a coach was fired.
John Tortorella firing - "I felt it was time," general manager Daniel Briere said. "You're going to ask me, is there one thing that happened? It's not one thing. It's a series of things that have happened, and probably a little bit more in the last three weeks, that has escalated since probably around the Trade Deadline, right after that. So like I said, it's not one thing specific. It's an accumulation [of things] that have happened, probably more often lately."
Peter Laviolette firing - "Quite simply, we fell short across the board," Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury said on a conference call Saturday. "Nobody here takes it lightly. We know our fans are frustrated and they deserve a better season than this. It starts with me."
So why was Boudreau fired. Actually let's take a step back. Officially we don't even know who fired him. Did DD fire Boudreau because of the team's dismal record in the second half of the season. Was he fired by DD after DD read the OHL report. Or was it the OHL that instructed DD to fire Boudreau because of something in the report. Was Boudreau innocent but the league, or DD, thought it was best to just clean house and start fresh. Fans have a right to know. We don't need to know the exact circumstances but we should have been told who fired Boudreau and if it was something related to the report.
The problem is the OHL has never released any type of statement. The only statement we had was by the IceDogs, and that made it sound like DD voluntarily decided to step back for now, which wasn't true.
All this confusion could have been avoided if the OHL had released their own statement and told us what action the league was taking against the IceDogs.
“There has been significant interest in the position, and the selection process is now underway,” Sweetland wrote in an email. “Candidates will participate in a multi-stage interview process.
Seriously, anyone know WTF does that mean? A bunch of Brock Sports Management graduates (and DD's son) ???
Should this not have been the OHL conducting an extensive search to lure the most qualified possible GM to Niagara? A Rob Simpson, George Burnett or Matt Turek-types are not submitting their resumes to apply for the position, they would be sought-after and recruited to accept the role of IceDogs’ GM.
Seriously, anyone know WTF does that mean? A bunch of Brock Sports Management graduates (and DD's son) ???
Should this not have been the OHL conducting an extensive search to lure the most qualified possible GM to Niagara? A Rob Simpson, George Burnett or Matt Turek-types are not submitting their resumes to apply for the position, they would be sought-after and recruited to accept the role of IceDogs’ GM.
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ohloutsider
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They have to say that to show they are not eliminating anyone from the hiring process. HR for making everything political correct.
In the meantime headhunters are hard at work to "find" more candidates.
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