Certainly assault based crimes are not limited to hockey players. Athletes from all sport seem to be getting charged with criminal activity more often than in the past, or we are at least hearing about it more often since the invention of social media.
Maybe the fear of bad publicity has vanished from the minds of local police departments. When I was a kid, there was no way an athlete would have been arrested unless he was found standing with a smoking gun in his hands and bodies lying around him. Even then they probably would have asked if anyone provoked him.
A while back I wrote a piece called Nothing Good Happens After Midnight. Apparently that piece was not read by enough junior players.
Vancouver Giants players, Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the British Columbia court services. Kulak, who is also the Giants’ leading scorer, was additionally charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.
The lone victim of the assault has allegedly suffered a broken nose as a result of the altercation.
Giants owner Ron Toigo released a statement Saturday saying the charges came out of the players attending house party.
“What we can say is that our players are held to a higher standard and, for the most part, live up to that,” said Toigo. “This is the first instance that we have had a player have to go to court and that is unfortunate.”
Kulak a defenseman who leads the team in scoring with 20 points in 20 games, is a Calgary Flames prospect. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL draft. Houck, a winger is property of the Edmonton Oilers. He was a fourth-round pick of the Oilers in 2013.
Both of these players are considered legitimate NHL prospects, and presumably have a bright future in front of them when playing professionally. The drafted player status places those players in a very small and elite class of athletes, and with that status comes responsibility to themselves, fans, peers, and the community in which they play.
With such bright futures one would think that they would try to not place themselves at risk. One would think they would be educated enough to know that they are always under the microscope. One would have hopped that someone would have advised them on what is acceptable behavior of players in their unique situations. Unfortunately that either did not happen or the players did not pay attention to that advice.
What happens next?
Kulak is set to return to court Nov. 20, while Houck is scheduled to return Feb. 28 to face the charges against them. Will they face discipline from the team or the league as well as the courts? That remains to be seen. But one thing still rings true, nothing good happens after midnight.
Joseph Kolodziej – Publisher
