UVM announces hockey suspensions related to hazing

University of Vermont Athletic Director Jeff Schulman announced Thursday afternoon the suspension of four men’s hockey players due to an off-campus hazing incident.

UVM Police Services received information of possible violations at a “Rookie Party” on Sept. 24 and conducted a week-long investigation into the incident, according to UVM Police Chief Lianne Tuomey.

Schulman said he learned of the incident on Sept. 26 and police reported their findings to the first-year athletic director on Tuesday, the day after they had interviewed members of the men’s hockey team.

The incident comes 17 years after a hazing scandal rocked the men’s hockey program and prompted the school to cancel the final 15 games of the 1999-2000 season.

“While the UVM police, in consultation with the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office, determined the conduct did not warrant any criminal or civil action, I concluded that the incident did violate the hazing provision in the athletic department code of conduct,” Schulman said, who was an assistant athletic director in 1999.

“We weighted the sanction toward the leadership group on the team, the group that has the most power to influence teammates,” Schulman said.

Schulman doled out the following sanctions in conjunction with men’s hockey coach Kevin Sneddon:

• Captains Brendan Bradley and Mario Puskarich, along with assistant captains Chris Muscoby and Anthony Petruzzelli have been suspended for five games. The suspensions begin with Friday’s season-opening game at Clarkson. The players can practice with the team but not play or travel to games.

• The team must participate in “additional educational programming on hazing to further reinforce the department and university policies and values” and participate in a restorative justice session “to better understand the impact that their behavior has on others,” according to a news release.

• The team must complete 15 hours of community service beyond what it is already performing.

• The men’s hockey team is on probation for one year. “Any further team misconduct will result in additional discipline up to and including game cancellations,” according to a news release.

“What this highlights is that there remains a gap between how our student athletes view this issue, how we view it and how our policies are written,” Schulman said. “It’s a tough issue, you know, these young men come from junior hockey backgrounds where, unfortunately, this type of conduct is often very prevalent.”

With his team in northern New York on Thursday preparing to play Clarkson, Sneddon said he was both disappointed and concerned when he learned of the incident.

Subscribe on iTunes: http://apple.co/2dLmDEB

“I wanted to make sure we had all the details, first and foremost, but (I was) disappointed, disappointed and really concerned for my players,” Sneddon said during the press conference. “I really do believe in them. I think they’re very good people, I think they made some very, very poor decisions.”

The night of Sept. 23, the nine first-year hockey players received a text message saying they needed to meet at 10 a.m. the following morning at a pre-determined spot on campus. They were told to bring $20 and a roll of toilet paper, according to a summary of the UVM police investigation.

Convening at that location on Sept. 24, a Saturday, “a senior team member” collected the rookies’ cell phones and told them to wait for instructions, police said.

Several hours later the group was told to travel to an address in South Burlington in 10 minutes. Upon reaching the South Burlington location, the players were directed to a Burlington address and arrived around 2 p.m., police said.

The first-year players, having removed their shirts due to the heat, were then ushered into a bathroom where there was beer and, later, were asked to remove their shorts before engaging in a series of activities, police said.

Players ate a piece of bread soaked in tequila, played beer pong, some funneled beer and some drank 1-2 shots of vodka. They were blindfolded and asked questions “described as boasting about themselves but did not involve ingesting alcohol,” according to the summary.

“Some of the members threw up after eating the bread. Some of the members admitted to dumping warm beer instead of drinking it,” Tuomey said. “Additionally, some of the members reported being given water and told that it’s hot and to take care of themselves.

“The rookie party concluded around 7 p.m. when first-year team members were given a ride back to their residences,” Tuomey said.

The violations occurred despite what Schulman called a “robust hazing education program for all of our student-athletes” put in place after the 1999 scandal.

The program includes a specific anti-hazing pledge for all Catamount athletes, a student-athlete development class for first-year players and meetings between administrators and each team to discuss expectations regarding hazing, Schulman said.

All but two Catamount players, assistant captain Travis Blanleil, a junior, and senior Brady Shaw, were in attendance at the incident, according to school officials.

Puskarich and Bradley will retain their captaincies, Sneddon said.

“I still believe in them,” Sneddon said. “They made some very poor decisions and made a bad mistake here, but they’re young men and they make mistakes. They’re paying for this and they’ve accepted the sanctions. They know that it’s important for them to continue to lead and be positive about this next phase as we try to grow and learn from it.”

The case will be referred to the university student conduct board and no further police action is planned, according to UVM Police Chief Lianne Tuomey.

This story was originally published Oct. 6, 2016. Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/eadanforth