The Barrie Colts will pay for a strange post-game availability.
The OHL fined the team $15,000 after coach Dylan Smoskowitz and star defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson responded to every question after Monday’s Game 7 win with the line “no one cares, work harder.”
In a release, the OHL called the actions “conduct detrimental to the league.”
“The post-game comments in question were determined to be highly unprofessional and represented a disservice to the dedicated media members who provide coverage of the Ontario Hockey League,” the league said.
The Colts beat the Brantford Bulldogs 5-0 to advance to the championship, but were reportedly unhappy that more players were not allowed to join in the post-game media.
Smoskowitz and Aitcheson faced six total questions before the moderator cut off the availability.
With each, they pretended to give a genuine answer before repeating the same response. Smoskowitz was asked to compare how the team felt after it lost Game 4, 6-1, to fall behind 3-1 in the series to now after it had completed the comeback.
“Yeah, really good question,” he said. “No one cares, work harder.”
The Colts stand four wins away from reaching the Memorial Cup. They will face the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL finals.
