When Joel Ward became the Washington Capitals' hero after scoring early in overtime to knock off the defending Stanley Cup champions, Boston Bruins, he likely had no idea what was about to follow.
If you happened to be monitoring Twitter the other day, you were likely in for a surprise.
It was either a handful of challenged idiots trying to sound funny, or some sort of a flashback back to the deep south around 1960.
Maybe even 1860.
It was centred around one of the very few black hockey players in the National Hockey League.
Don't know why the age here is included but the 31-year-old Capitals hero scored in OT to send the Caps to round two and the Bruins back home.
There were at least 40 people out there in cyberspace, most of them are crazy Bruins followers who likely just saw their team eliminated from possibly going for a repeat of last year's Stanley Cup win.
They referred to Ward using the 'n' word.
The offensive comments left on Twitter were supposedly picked up by various news outlets across North America.
Ward's parents immigrated to Ontario from Barbados. He said he had heard things like that in his earlier days of youth hockey, growing up in North York, near Toronto.
"At that age, I didn't even know what the terminology meant. I've never heard anything," he said referring to playing hockey at the pro level. "I know other guys have, but I've never had anything directed to me like that."
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis voiced some support for the guy that got his team into the second round.
"What these people have said and done is unforgivable. I hope they are now publicly identified and pay a huge price for their beliefs. There should be zero tolerance for this kind of hate mongering."
They also cast a bad shadow over Bruins fans as a whole and it prompted the team to release a statement.
Professional athletes are among those who put themselves literally in the centre of the universe. Some of them have learned the hard way that what you post is public domain and can be reprinted anywhere in the world.
Chances are whoever it was that posted the tweets had no idea that it was going to make news headlines, both on the news pages of news section of web sites, but also all over the sports pages too. They also likely had no idea that they are making the 'good' Bruins fans look like rejects too.
The game last Wednesday wasn't the first case of proof that racism is still alive and well; back in the NHL preseason, some crazed fan decided it would be funny to throw a banana peel on the ice near Philadelphia forward Wayne Simmonds (interestingly enough, both of these racist incidents surround players who are still in the running to win the Stanley Cup). A 26-year-old was charged with engaging in prohibited behaviour and he was fined $200.
What's even more interesting is the attitude the players take. Not sure what exactly poor Ward is thinking (other than the fact that he is still in contention to get his name inscribed on Lord Stanley mug while the racists on Twitter are not). Simmonds and other black players in the NHL seem to be shrugging it off, which is interesting, saying they've actually come to accept it, making their living playing in a 'white sport'.
(One of the posts on Twitter suggests that the hockey players should be playing baseball rather than hockey).
There are a total of 28 black players on NHL teams this season.
Not to mention one of the most prolific by far, the captain of the Flames, Jarome Iginla, and former Blackhawks big shot Dustin Byfuglien, and Evander Kane.
At last check, those Caps are tied with the Rangers at 1-1 in their best-of-7 series going into Wednesday morning in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
If there's anything you'd like to see covered by Game 7, please forward your suggestions to the Yorkton This Week sportsdesk by phone (306) 782-2465.
