Ten University of Wisconsin-Stout hockey players have been suspend from the team, with two players receiving lifelong bans and eight others banned from the team this year because of their involvement in the death of another UW-Stout student.
The ten hockey players were ruled ineligible to try out for the team because they had violated the Athletic Code of Conduct during an incident at the Log Jam Tavern on Sept. 18 which ended in the death of a fellow student, according to a statement from UW-Stout Chancellor Charles Sorensen and Athletic Director Duey Naatz.
Two players, Jedidiah McGlasson and Jared Britton, received lifelong bans because they are facing assault and felony murder charges in the death of Bradley Simon, according to the statement.
A disagreement took place between Simon and the hockey players over Britton’s attire at the Log Jam Tavern. Simon left the bar through the back to avoid the hockey players after his drink was slapped from his hand.
The Log Jam bouncer working that night kicked out one of the hockey players involved in the incident, leading others to follow him out.
After the incident inside, Simon began to ride away from the bar on his bicycle. He was followed by Britton and McGlasson and one of the two pushed him off of his bike causing to Simon crashed into a wall head first.
Simon passed away five days later due to head trauma.
Along with Britton and McGlasson, eight other hockey players present at the tavern were also disciplined, now ineligible to try out for the hockey team during the 2010-11 school year, UW-Stout spokesperson Doug Mell said.
Mell said while the other eight were at the tavern the night of the incident, they are ineligible to play this year is due to the fact they violated the UW-Stout Student-Athlete Code of Conduct by participated in high risk alcohol use.
Mell said the punishment was not to make an example of them for other students, but he hoped others would learn from the incident.
“If other students would learn from this tragic event to refrain from high risk alcohol use then some good could come from this,” Mell said.
