The American Hockey League has issued the second-longest suspension in league history — 30 games — to a San Jose Barracuda player who made a racist gesture toward a Black ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Roadrunners player during a game last week.
San Jose’s Krystof Hrabik made the gesture toward Bokondji Imama during a second-period stoppage in the teams’ Jan. 12 game, a 4-3 ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ win in San Jose.
After a fight broke out between ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ forward Blake Speers and San Jose’s Patrick Holway — a relatively ho-hum event in the typical hockey sense — Hrabik, Imama and players from both teams ended up entangled for the next few minutes while officials sorted everything out.
The game was broadcast live via AHLtv, the league’s in-house subscription-based live-stream network. While Hrabik’s gesture was not entirely clear from the publicly available video, the San Jose Mercury ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ reported Friday that Hrabik appeared to be mimicking an ape.
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Near the end of the skirmish, and presumably after Hrabik’s gesture, Imama pushed Hrabik in the face and was handed a two-minute minor for roughing. Imama appeared to plead his case with referees while being ushered to the penalty box.
Imama tweeted on Friday night that it's "frustrating and disheartening that this is still going on in 2022!"
Enough is enough!
— Boko Imama (@bokojr)
A league statement issued Friday said the AHL “stands with Boko Imama,†adding that it is “unfair that any player should be subjected to comments or gestures based on their race.â€
Xavier Gutierrez, president of the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Coyotes, the owner and parent organization of the Roadrunners, issued his own statement Friday: “We are appalled by the disgusting and blatantly racist gesture that was displayed to Boko during the Roadrunners’ game at San Jose on Jan. 12 and support the AHL’s action and suspension.
“The player’s ignorance is astounding and unacceptable,†Gutierrez added.
Imama, 25, has played in all three of the Roadrunners’ games since the incident in San Jose. He and his ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ teammates will face the Reign on Saturday night in Ontario, California.
Hrabik’s 30-game suspension is the second-longest in the 83-year history of the AHL. In 2004, the league suspended Alexander Perezhogin for more than one full season after Perezhogin, then playing for the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate, swung his stick and struck another player. The AHL exiled him from that season’s playoff tournament and the entirety of the 2004-05 season.
Hrabik has not placed since Jan. 12; his three missed games will count toward the suspension.Â
Krystof Hrabik
The incident marks the second time in less than two calendar years that Imama has been subjected to either a racial gesture or slur during an AHL game. On Jan. 22, 2020, the AHL suspended Bakersfield Condors defenseman Brandon Manning five games for directing racial slurs at Imama two days earlier. Imama was a member of the Ontario Reign at the time. The Coyotes acquired him last summer, assigning the forward to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ of the AHL.
"I've been dealing with situations like this my entire life," Imama tweeted Friday night. "As a person of color playing youth hockey, through Junior and now as a professional, this keeps happening to me over and over again. …
"Even though I honestly believe the sport has made positive strides, WE still have a long way to go to educate the ignorant and make hockey a safe place for everyone. My hope is that people people learn from this and that some day hockey will truly be for everyone."
