Two days after former NHL player Akim Aliu accused current Flames head coach Bill Peters of using a racial slur several times toward him during their time with the Rockford IceHogs 10 years ago, Peters released a statement.
Peters, who was sent home by the Flames on their current road trip, did not release the statement through the Flames, but instead emailed the statement directly to members of the media. The statement is written in the form of a letter to Flames general manager Brad Treliving.
In the letter, Peters admits to using the offensive language, and apologizes to Treliving and the Flames organization, and "anyone negatively affected," but he does not apologize directly to Aliu.
In the statement, Peters says the slur was an isolated incident and that he immediately apologized to the team. This differs from Aliu's account. Aliu told TSN he was called into Peters’ office after the incident, and instead of Peters apologizing, he doubled down, saying, “You know, I’m just sick of this n—– s—. It’s every day. From now on, we need to play different music.”
After Aliu's allegations, Michal Jordan and an anonymous Hurricanes player came forward of allegations of Peters physically assaulting players on the bench during games during his time in Carolina, allegations that were confirmed by Rod Brind'Amour.
“It for sure happened, the two issues that are in question.”
Full statement from @Canes head coach Rod Brind'Amour on Michal Jordan’s allegations against Bill Peters: pic.twitter.com/PNa0085dgx
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 27, 2019
Brind'Amour said management "handled it directly." Previous reports indicated that a group of players informed then-general manager Ron Francis of the allegations. Francis, though, did not inform then-Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos. Karmanos told the Seattle Times on Wednesday that he would have fired Peters “in a nanosecond” had Francis told him of the abuse.