Buccaneers Play Fargo Force After Two Bucs Charged with Assaulting Fargo Player

The play the Fargo Force tonight in Fargo — two weeks after a Des Moines meeting of the teams resulted in assault charges against two Buccaneers forwards.

The two players will be charged with misdemeanor assault charges in connection with a March 10 assault of 18-year-old Fargo Force defenseman Neal Goff and of his 79-year-old grandfather, said .

Forward Kevin Irwin, 18, will be charged with serious misdemeanor assault when he returns to Des Moines next week. Forward Tanner Karty, 17, was referred to Polk County Juvenile court on two aggravated misdemeanor charges of assault. 

Both players were suspended from the team after the police investigation began, but Irwin is traveling with the team, which plays in Fargo, ND, tonight.

The alleged assault stemmed from an incident on the ice the night two weeks ago when Fargo Force defenseman Neal Goff, 18, allegedly called Bucs player Trent Samuels-Thomas, who is black, a racial slur. 

After that incident, coaches on both teams pulled Goff and and several Buccaneers from the game the next night. They were watching the game from the stands when the incident occurred immediately after the game.

Goff and his family, including his 79-year-old grandfather, Gerald Pipes, were sitting in the stands together, said Urbandale Police. Some Buccaneers players sat down in front of them and the assaults occurred right after the game. The two men suffered relatively minor injuries.

Goff, Karty and Irwin all have been suspended indefinitely by the U.S. Hockey League, while it investigates the incident.

The Des Moines Register reports the hockey league will have a supervisor on-site for the 7:30 p.m. game tonight in Fargo.