The men’s hockey team scored its fourth goal to take a 4-1 lead during the season opener against York. (Beth Bowers/Ryersonian)
A university official has been chaperoning the Ryerson men’s hockey team on all overnight trips since players were caught drinking alcohol last year on a trip to Princeton University.
The decision was made after the incident. At the end of last season, it was decided the monitoring of the team would continue this year. Brian Shantz, athletics services co-ordinator was on the team’s trip to Pittsburgh, Penn., last weekend.
Though other sports teams may have similar administrative support, associate director of athletics Stephanie White says this is the only team that will always have a representative on all trips.
The person who accompanies the team will not have a direct link to the team.
Andrea Elliott, the school’s sports information specialist, said in an email this is the only difference between this year and last year.
Last week, White and director of athletics Ivan Joseph had a meeting with the men’s hockey team to discuss the expectations prior to leaving for Pittsburgh.
The rule of not drinking alcohol during the trip was a topic of conversation, White said.
“The rules are still articulated in the same way.”
The men’s team is aware of the rule, and players say they are focused on playing hockey.
Drinking alcohol is prohibited by team members while on trips, according to the Ryerson student-athlete handbook.
Little is publicly known about the incident last year at Princeton — in which players drank while there for an exhibition game — beyond the players’ hotel receiving noise complaints.
The team was suspended for seven days by Ryerson, forfeiting two games.
Head coach Graham Wise was suspended for four games and assistant coach Lawrence Smith was fired.
Wise said he believes that the incident won’t happen again.
“I think (the players) learned their lesson,” he said.
Beth graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism and a minor in politics from Ryerson University in 2015. Beth interned at TSN sports radio in Toronto and Vancouver, and CTV Vancouver.
