ECAC Hockey director of officiating Paul Stewart finds himself embroiled in a lawsuit for something he wrote last summer.
Former Philadelphia Flyers center Eric Lindros filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday against Stewart over an article about him on the Huffington Post website. The article described an incident between Stewart and Lindros in his rookie season of 1992-93. Stewart said he tried to make small talk with Lindros prior to the opening faceoff of a game against the New Jersey Devils at the Spectrum, the Flyers’ old home. Lindros allegedly dropped some expletives on Stewart.
Stewart also wrote that, before the game, he asked the Flyers’ equipment manager to have some posters featuring Lindros and linemate Mark Recchi signed by those two. Recchi did, but when Lindros found out who the posters were for, he allegedly tore them up.
Lindros is seeking $250,000 in the lawsuit.
An ECACH spokesman said Stewart, who also writes for HockeyBuzz.com, would not comment on the lawsuit.
ECACH commissioner Steve Hagwell spoke to Stewart about the lawsuit.
“We talked about the case, the article and the whole thing,” Hagwell said. “I just found out about it [Wednesday] afternoon. We’ve had multiple discussions since that time.”
Hagwell doesn’t mind Stewart writing articles.
“I’ve read some of his stuff,” Hagwell said. “The vast majority of it, before this came up, I thought was OK.”
UNION RECRUITS
An update on a couple of Union recruits:
Brett Supinski, who is coming in next season, is a finalist for the British Columbia Hockey League’s Rookie of the Year Award.
Supinski, a forward for the Coquitlam Express, is the top rookie scorer in the BCHL with 47 goals and 50 assists. He is second in league scoring overall, behind teammate Corey Mackin.
Supinski leads the league with nine game-winning goals, and is tied for second with 13 power-play goals.
Forward Ryan Walker, a 2016-17 recruit, recorded his first career hat trick Wednesday, leading the Sioux City Musketeers to an 8-3 victory over the Lincoln Stars in the U.S. Hockey League. Walker scored twice early in the second period, and completed his hat trick in the third.
Walker has nine goals and 20 assists in 47 games for the Musketeers, who are coached by former Union player Jay Varady.
BOBCATS CHAMPS
Quinnipiac clinched its second Cleary Cup in three years when it tied Brown, 2-2, on Saturday. The Bobcats rallied from a 2-0 deficit to get the tie.
The Bobcats will be the top seed in the ECACH tournament.
Second-place St. Lawrence can still earn a share of the Cleary Cup if it can beat Union and RPI, and Quinnipiac gets beaten by Harvard and Dartmouth. If the Bobcats and Saints tie for first, Quinnipiac will be the top seed for the ECACH tournament because it has the tiebreaker over St. Lawrence by virtue of winning the season series.
BU WINS BEANPOT
Boston University needed two weeks, plus a little overtime, to win the Beanpot title on Monday.
Matt Grzelcyk scored his second goal of the game 51 seconds into OT to give the Terriers a 4-3 victory over Northeastern. It was BU’s 30th title, and its first since 2009.
The second week of the tournament was delayed two weeks because of a snowstorm Feb. 9. The first week was delayed a day, also because of snow.
Second-period goals by Robbie Baillargeon and Grzelcyk gave BU a 3-1 lead. Northeastern, which was seeking its first title since 1988, tied the score in the third on tallies by Kevin Roy and Dustin Darou.
The third-place game also need overtime. Ryan Fitzgerald’s goal at 1:16 gave Boston College a 3-2 win over Harvard.
ECACH WOMEN
The ECAC Hockey women’s tournament gets underway today with the best-of-three quarterfinals.
Clarkson, the defending NCAA champion, is the top seed after it beat Harvard, 1-0, last Saturday. The Golden Knights (22-9-3) will host eighth-seeded Dartmouth (13-13-2).
Harvard (21-5-3) is the second seed. It faces seventh-seeded Yale (15-13-1). Third-seeded Quinnipiac (24-7-3) takes on No. 6 Princeton (15-12-2). Fourth-seeded Cornell (16-10-3), which has won the last two ECACH tournament titles, hosts fifth-seeded St. Lawrence (19-10-5).
WELLER NOMINATED
Former Clarkson player Shawn Weller is a nominee for the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame, it was announced this week.
Weller, a South Glens Falls native, played junior hockey with the Capital District Selects before going to Clarkson.
The other candidates are former Adirondack Red Wings players Joe Paterson, Dale Krentz and Dave Hanson.
The winners will be announced Saturday. The induction ceremony takes place March 15.
LOCAL UPDATE
Wisconsin junior defenseman Courtney Burke (Albany) had an assist in the Badgers’ 2-1 loss to St. Cloud State last Friday. In the rematch two days later, Burke had an assist and a plus-4 defensive rating in a 5-0 victory.
Categories: College Sports
