The Toronto Maple Leafs suspended Toronto Marlies goaltender Garret Sparks on Saturday following remarks made on Facebook from the 23-year-old netminder.
Sparks is an admin for the Facebook group GGSU. In the private page, a user allegedly made disparaging comments towards a disabled person. Sparks responded by saying he was going to “drag you out to center ice and beat you into a ****ing pulp,” while calling the individual a 13-year-old girl.
Not a good look for Garret Sparks. pic.twitter.com/UYL7alZnz4
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) November 22, 2016
Toronto Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe told TSN.ca that Sparks was sent home for the time being.
“[Garret] was sent home for some team policy reasons when we were on the road trip there [in New York],” Keefe said after Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Utica Comets. “I’m familiar with the circumstances, but we’re not going to comment any further from there. Management handled the situation.”
It’s an admirable thing to defend a disabled person, but Sparks attempt at doing so was completely wrong. Saying he was going to beat the crap out of a random dude and comparing him to a girl is both lewd and sexist. Sparks is a representative of the Maple Leafs organization and as such, shouldn’t get into public spats. As an admin, he also likely had the power to block the user, but instead opted to escalate the dispute. Next time, Sparks should ignore the hate (or deal with it in a less public manner) and focus on being smart off the ice.
[TSN.ca]
