Personally, I think it’s funny that the all mighty
Kitchener Rangers of the OHL are suing the University of Michigan student newspaper – in Canada no doubt. Like
Chris Peters of the United States of Hockey said on twitter yesterday this is probably all optics for now. I agree with Peters' assessment. I am not sure how a Canadian court is going to get "The Michigan Daily" to comply with their rulings if they found liable?
Sunaya Sapurji, Yahoo Sports --- The long, bitter and ongoing feud between the Canadian Hockey League and NCAA hockey took an interesting twist when the Kitchener Rangers announced they had made good on a previous threat to sue The Michigan Daily.
According to Kitchener’s chief operating officer Steve Bienkowski, the Ontario Hockey League team has filed a statement of claim in a Kitchener, Ont., court against The Daily – the University of Michigan’s student newspaper – and to reporter Matt Slovin. The issued claim is expected to be served on Wednesday morning.
The lawsuit stems from a report the newspaper published last Tuesday, which quoted an anonymous OHL source, who alleged the Rangers had offered standout defenceman Jacob Trouba, a Wolverines commit, $200,000 in lieu of an education package to play for Kitchener this season. Such a payment would contravene the OHL’s rules in regards to impermissible benefits.
Ryder Gilliland, the lawyer representing the Rangers in their suit, said the team is seeking $1 million in damages – $500,000 in general damages and another $500,000 in punitive damages. Once the official claim is processed, the newspaper and Slovin have 40 days in which to defend that claim because they are located in the United States.
“We’re actually not making any comment at this time,” said Jacob Axelrad, the editor-in-chief of The Daily.
Although I am not a lawyer by any stretch of the imagination – I think it’s going to be very hard to prove liable in this case. This also isn’t the first time that the Rangers have been accused of shenanigans either.
Three years ago Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson accused the Rangers of trying to pay off blueliner Cam Fowler, who was slated to play for Jackson's squad. [RANGERS REPORT]
I don’t recall the Rangers suing Jeff Jackson. So does that mean that they don’t dispute the Jackson claims? As of right now the story is still on
"the Michigan Daily web site.
