Former Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Bill Peters resigned as head coach of the Calgary Flames late last year after reports surfaced of past racial insensitivity towards a former player.
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Nigerian-born defenseman Akim Aliu alleged that Peters used racial slurs against him when the two were with the AHL’s Rockford Ice Hogs a decade earlier. Peters apologized to the Flames for using “offensive language” prior to his resignation.
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Peters has found new employment, taking a job with the Kontinental Hockey League‘s Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. And Aliu says that he’s open to the fact that Peters has received a second chance.
“Only with the past behind us can we focus on the future,” Aliu wrote in a text to The Associated Press on Thursday. ”Hockey is for all. I believe in second chances for everyone, that we can all find forgiveness in our heart and that real positive change is coming if we continue to push forward together.”
“I don’t resent a man for finding work,” Aliu continued. “But I will fight to make sure those same opportunities are available to everyone, on and off the ice, regardless of race or ethnicity.”
Peters served as an assistant coach with the Red Wings under Mike Babcock from 2011 to 2014 before leaving to take the head coaching job with the Carolina Hurricanes.
– – Quotes via TSN.ca Link – –
