From start to finish, Wednesday night was an ugly night for the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves.
Following the Wolves’ 7-2 blowout loss to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds that dropped them to a league-worst 1-10-0-0 on the season, head coach Paul Fixter managed to make a bad situation worse. Fixter was heated after the game, but his anger turned into a full-on meltdown when he took his frustration out on a reporter, telling the Sault Star’s Peter Ruicci, “F— you.”
Although Fixter was clearly snippy during the media scrum, it started innocently enough as he answered questions from CTV’s Lincoln Louttit. But when Ruicci took over the questioning, all hell broke loose.
Check out the exchange below, via Yahoo’s Buzzing the Net, and see a video of it here.
Ruicci: “Didn’t you think a factor was the high skill that they (the Greyhounds) have?”
Fixter: “They’re a very skilled team, Peter, yes.”
Ruicci: “Did you think the work ethic was— ”
Fixter: “Whose? Theirs or ours!”
Ruicci: “Yours. I thought you guys worked hard.”
Fixter: “Good. That’s good.”
Ruicci: “Well, I don’t know…”
Fixter: “Well, that’s your opinion. We worked hard. There you go. Good for you.” (raising voice) “What’s the question?”
Ruicci (also raising voice): “Did you work hard?”
Fixter: “F— you! Don’t f—— talk to me like that!”
Ruicci: “How do you think you’re acting towards us? All we’re doing is trying to do an interview.”
Fixter has since issued an apology via the team’s website.
“I apologize for my use of profanity after last evening’s loss to the Greyhounds. I could have chosen my words more carefully, however, I stand by my players, the organization and the fans of the Sudbury Wolves Hockey Club. The coaching staff is a passionate group and we feel the stress of losing. We are working diligently to strive to improve our record and make the fans of the Sudbury Wolves proud.”
Photo via Twitter/@TheBuzzerOnFOX
