WASHINGTON – The Capitals have moved on from their brutal and exhilarating playoff series against the Bruins. But the fallout continues for the people who tweeted racial epithets after Caps’ winger Joel Ward, an African American, scored the winning goal in Game 7 on April 25 in Boston.
Some who tweeted the N-word were high school hockey players in Gloucester, Mass., and the school superintendent tells The Gloucester Times those teens are being suspended from sports for a “considerable time.”
The students have also lost leadership posts in extracurricular activities.
Another paper reports a 17-year-old was fired from his part-time job because of his racist tweet.
Ward had just scored on a rebound after teammate Mike Knuble’s breakaway shot, eliminating the Bruins from repeating their Stanley Cup championship and reinvigorating hopes that the Capitals lineup could make it beyond the conference semifinals for the first time since 1998.
There were 123 mentions on the social networking site around midnight on April 25 that included Ward and the N-word.
The day after the incident, Ward told WTOP that he wasn’t going to let the comments get to him.
“The words don’t hurt me at all. I want the team to win, and that’s the main focus for me.”
WTOP’s Max Smith contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
