During the Flames' 3-2 loss to the Penguins on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena, former NHL player Akim Aliu tweeted that current Flames head coach Bill Peters previously called him a racist slur several times.
Aliu, the Blackhawks' 2007 second-round pick, played for Peters during the 2009-10 season with the Blackhawks' AHL affiliate Rockford IceHogs.
Aliu, who was born in Nigeria, tweeted that 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."
In speaking to TSN on Tuesday morning, Aliu further explained what happened.
“He walked in before a morning pre-game skate and said ‘Hey Akim, I’m sick of you playing that n----- s---,’ ” Aliu told TSN. “He said ‘I’m sick of hearing this n-----s f------ other n-----s in the ass stuff.’
“He then walked out like nothing ever happened. You could hear a pin drop in the room, everything went dead silent. I just sat down in my stall, didn’t say a word.”
Two members of that Rockford IceHogs team -- Simon Pepin and Peter MacArthur -- independently corroborated the story to TSN.
Aliu told TSN he was called into Peters' office, and instead of Peters apologizing, he doubled down, saying, “You know, I’m just sick of this n----- s---. It’s every day. From now on, we need to play different music.”
Aliu tweeted that he is the "first one to admit that I rebelled" against Peters for using the slur. Aliu alleges that because of the way he responded to being called the slur, Peters punished him by having him demoted to the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL.
"Instead of remedying the situation, he wrote a letter to (Blackhawks executives) John McDonough and Stan Bowman to have me sent down to the ECHL," Aliu said. "20-year-old on pace for 20 goals in his first pro year with zero PP/PK time was off to a great start in his pro career."
Aliu made these tweets in response to the reports of Mike Babcock's treatment of Mitch Marner, saying it's "not very surprising the things we’re hearing about Babcock." Peters worked under Babcock as a scout and assistant coach with the WHL's Spokane Chiefs from 1997-2000. Aliu called Peters Babcock's "protege" and said the "apple doesn't fall from the tree."
Aliu also told TSN that he waited as long as he did out of fear of the allegations damaging his career.
“This isn’t me being bitter. I sat on this a really, really long time. It broke my heart, I think it made my career go downhill before it started,” Aliu said. “This isn’t to the degree of Kaepernick by any means, but if you play the race card, it’s most likely the end of your career.”
“What am I going to say? I was 20 years old and a first-year pro. I was too scared to speak up,” Aliu said. “I beat myself up every day over it.”
Peters was not made available to speak with reporters after the Flames' loss in Pittsburgh. Instead, general manager Brad Treliving met with reporters and made a statement.
“During tonight’s game, I was made aware of a tweet from former player Akim Aliu,” Treliving said. “And obviously, we were playing, so I haven’t had a chance to sit down with Bill or our people internally to talk about this and get to the bottom of it. I would say we take these matters very, very seriously.
“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, we were made aware of it during the game here this evening. Like I said, I haven’t had a chance to talk to Bill. I will be doing that and until such time, we won’t have any further comment about it, but we will address it and get back to you once we have a chance to speak internally.”
Trevling spoke again after the Flames' practice on Tuesday in Buffalo, saying that the investigation is ongoing and they hope to have it completed quickly.
.@NHLFlames GM Brad Treliving provides an update on the ongoing Bill Peters investigation: pic.twitter.com/70z4xwc4bC
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 26, 2019
Aliu, now 30, went on to play seven games in the NHL with the Flames in his career over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, before the Flames hired Peters in 2018. Aliu played 10 professional seasons in his career, and most recently played for the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL in 2018-19. He's not currently playing with any team.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
[caption id="attachment_922429" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
Penguins vs. Flames, PPG Paints Arena, Nov. 25, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
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