UPDATE: Two Bucs Suspended After Assault At Hockey Game

UPDATE: Des Moines Buccaneers players Kevin Irwin and Tanner Karty have been suspended indefinitely by the United State Hockey League after an altercation in the stands March 11 with a Fargo N.D. player, the Fargo Forum reported Friday.

The Fargo player, Neal Goff, also has been suspended. He admitted using a racial epithet during the game the night before about a Des Moines player.

No charges in the case have been filed, said Jeff Casey, spokesman for the Urbandale police department.

"It is a criminal matter. We have investigators who are looking into it and basically are interviewing a lot of people," he said.

WHAT WE REPORTED FRIDAY:

Urbandale Police and the United States Hockey League are investigating the complaint of a Fargo Force hockey player who said he and his 79-year-old grandfather were assaulted by Des Moines Buccaneers hockey players last weekend.

Neal Goff, 18, and his grandfather allegedly were assaulted by Buccaneers players after the March 10 game. The assault came after Goff allegedly made a racial slur toward Buccaneers player Trent Thomas-Samuels, who is black, USHL official Scott Brand told Fargo Forum blogger Ryan S. Clark.

An Urbandale police report indicates that the 18-year-old Fargo player was assaulted in the stands of the arena immediately after the game by several young men, whom he believed were Buccaneers players.

Did you see a reported fight in stands during the March 10 Buccaneers? If so, tell us what you saw below in comments.

Urbandale Lt. Rob Johansen said the report indicated there was an incident between Goff and some Buccaneers players during the game on March 9. As a result, coaches for both teams did not let Goff and the Bucs players play in Saturday night's game.

Goff apparently was in the stands, watching the game with his family, which included his grandmother and grandfather. He was assaulted after the game by two to three men. His grandfather received minor injuries when he was pushed down during the assault and hit his head on a bleacher, said Johansen.

Johansen said Urbandale detectives had not yet interviewed Goff at the time the report was written because he rode home on the team bus. His mother called Urbandale police when the family returned to their motel room.

Hockey League Investigation

USHL official Brand told Clark: “There are two parts to the investigation. One of the parts is the racial slur. That we can handle, because it happened within the confines of an arena.”

Brand said the league is waiting for a police report detailing the assault.
USHL spokesman Brian Werger said the league could suspend players on both teams.

“Obviously, an incident has happened, and the thing from our standpoint is we just don’t know all the facts yet,” Werger told Clark. “We’ve heard various allegations and different stories, but nothing has been confirmed, and we still have an investigation to complete. Part of this is in the hands of the authorities, too, and we are cooperating with them.”

Johansen said the police report did not mention racial slurs. He said no arrests have been made and the preliminary report does not substantiate whether the assailants were players. He said no arrests have been made. 

Goff Still in High School

Clark reported that Goff is a high school senior, who came to play for the Fargo Force from Stillwater, Minn. during his last year of high school.

The Force defeated the Buccaneers 5-3 that night and 4-0 the night before.

He quoted tweets about the incident from Fargo Force players: 

Forward Bryn Chyzyk, a University of North Dakota commit, tweeted the Des Moines organization, “should be ashamed of there (sic) actions tonight, happens on the ice stays on the ice.”

Goaltender and fellow UND commit Zane Gothberg tweeted, “Actions need to be taken on the ice instead of off…Really disappointed in what happened tonight.”