Eric Francis, a senior analyst with Sportsnet, is reporting that Akim Aliu and Calgary General Manager Brad Treliving have had a conversation regarding allegations of racism Aliu has leveled against Flames' head coach Bill Peters. Aliu, who is of Nigerian descent, put out a series of Tweets Monday night claiming Peters repeatedly directed the N-word at him while they were both a part of the Rockford IceHogs organization about a decade ago. Aliu was playing for the team while Peters was Rockford's head coach.
Francis says it's a safe bet that Calgary's investigation into the incident will be very thorough. There's no word on what Peters' punishment might be if the allegations are proven to be true, but it's likely it will be severe.
After the allegations last night, Peters stated: "I would say we take these matters, very, very seriously. And so until such time as we have a chance to speak about it internally, we obviously wanted to address [the media], we're aware of it."
TSN's Darren Dreger has reported that the NHL has been in contact with Calgary about the Aliu's allegations, and further discussions are expected today.
In his Tweets, Aliu claimed Peters "dropped the N bomb several times towards me in the dressing room in my rookie year because he didn't like my choice of music."
The NHL has issued a statement via Twitter on the accusations, saying "The behaviour that has been alleged is repugnant and unacceptable. We will have no further comment until we have had an opportunity to look into the matter more thoroughly."
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