The Ontario Hockey League announced Thursday A new round of severe penalties against the Niagara Icedogs. This began when the league received allegations that some players had violated league policies including the Protection Policy, Prevention of Abuse, Bullying and Harassment, and the Code of Conduct.
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The end result of the investigation is new fines, lost draft picks, and now-discontinued player and general manager bans.
Sanctions list
Here is the full list of penalties the ILO imposed on the Icedogs on Thursday.
- A new $100,000 fine against the team in connection with the 2022-23 season.
- The Icedogs were eliminated in the first round in 2024.
- Effective immediately, Darren DeDobbelaer has been suspended as acting general manager for two seasons. He is eligible to return to office on June 1, 2025.
- Two players, Joshua Rosenzweig and Landon Cato, have been permanently removed from the OHL.
How OHL handled the allegations
Once allegations are received by OHL, they hire an independent third party investigator to conduct a comprehensive review. At the time, DeDobbelaer, the team’s owner, was advised by league commissioner David Branch that, in order to protect the integrity of the process, the investigation should be kept confidential and he was not allowed to speak to anyone including the players on the matter.
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In all, about 15 former players, coaches, staff and team officials were interviewed over several months. A final report has been submitted to the OHL. Below is a list of important findings from this report.
- Violations of the Safeguarding Policy, Prevention of Abuse, Bullying, and Harassment and our Code of Conduct.
- Rosenzweig and Cato engaged in serious violations of the Player Abuse Policy and violated the OHL Code of Conduct including but not limited to physical abuse and aiding and abetting. It is worth noting that Kato was their captain and was nominated for Humanitarian of the Year in 2021-22.
- Despite being told to maintain confidentiality, DeDobbelaer violated the mandate.
In its statement, the OHL asserted, “Protecting players on and off the ice is the OHL’s primary concern. More importantly, a violation of the OHL’s Code of Conduct or abuse policy endangers player safety and experience and affects the reputation of our teams, leagues, and the sport of hockey.”
Not the first time
Just over a year agoIcedogs was ordered to pay a $150,000 fine related to messages sent on WhatsApp. Joey and Billy Burke, the general manager and head coach at the time, were both suspended indefinitely. These were inappropriate text messages sent to a group chat.
Burkes are not eligible to return to the OHL until at least June 1, 2024. This is only if all appropriate counseling has been completed.
The Icedogs submitted a bid to host the 2024 Memorial Cup which was eventually awarded to the Saginaw Spirit.
Head coach Ryan Kuwabara now has the heavy task of trying to help navigate the team through another difficult situation. Time will tell what the lasting repercussions of this will be. But it will be very difficult to overcome two major situations in a couple of years.