The domino effect caused by a vetoed trade, which stopped Cobourg Cougar defenceman Tyler Turcotte from becoming a Port Hope Predator, has resulted in a verbal abuse complaint being filed with the Ontario Hockey Association, against Cougars ownership.

"I feel like I was treated like a piece of meat throughout this," says Turcotte, 18. "They (Cobourg) expected loyalty and respect, but they showed me none."

Brent Ladds, OHA president, says the league stands by its decision to veto the trade, which saw Turcotte end up in Port Hope after he was traded three times in under an hour, on the night of the league trade deadline, Wednesday, Jan. 10. Ladds upheld the trade veto on Monday, Jan. 22. Turcotte has one goal and 10 assists for 11 points in 37 games this season.

"Cobourg were never convinced he would not end up in Port Hope, so they elected to put him on their protected list before midnight," says Mr. Ladds, adding that is the team's right. Protecting Turcotte ensured Cobourg would maintain his rights if he was traded back to a team in the league.

Turcotte was traded by the Cougars to the Fort Erie Meteors, of the Golden Horseshoe Junior B Hockey League, at 11:32 p.m. on Jan. 10. In a whirlwind of trades arranged by the Predators - a fact readily admitted to by Tim Clayden, Predators hockey operators director - Turcotte was traded from Fort Erie to the North Bay SkyHawks of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. The SkyHawks then traded Turcotte to Port Hope before midnight.

"We tried to get Turcotte in a straight cash deal or trade with Cobourg and they wasted our time for three days," says Clayden. "We networked and used our contacts and friends in hockey to help make the deal."

Joe Bolahood, a member of the Giacalone Group which owns the Cougars, says his team faxed its protected list of players to the OHA around 11:30 p.m. the night of the trade deadline. Bolahood says he did talk to the Predators leading up to the deadline, but was looking for players in return with any trade the team was going to make.

"We actively shopped him (Turcotte) around the league and had four deals where we would get players back, but for various reasons, such as distance, he (Turcotte) turned them down," adds Bolahood.

Turcotte asked for a trade from Cobourg on Sunday, Jan. 7, stating he wanted to go to a winning team and he was not happy with Cobourg's direction. He says he initially called Mary Giacalone, the Cougars hockey director, about his trade request, but Coach Bill Brady called him back.

"After we spoke, I got to emailing some teams on Sunday night telling them I had asked to be traded," says Turcotte.
The following morning is when Turcotte says he was verbally abused by a member of Cougar ownership about his trade request. He says he was also told he had been kicked off the team.

"When I went to the arena to pick up my equipment, it was in a garbage bag," says Turcotte.

Turcotte and his family filed a verbal abuse complaint with the OHA against the Cougars after the trade was vetoed by the league. Ladds acknowledges the league has received the complaint but has not begun an investigation.

"We need more substantiation and information and we have asked for it," Ladds told the Northumberland News. "The OHA will look into it if we have more to go on."

In a Monday, Jan. 22, letter to the Turcotte family, Ladds clearly outlines the OHA's position for more information because "the issues cited did not appear significant enough for us to relieve you of your obligation to Cobourg". The OHA can remove a player from a team's roster if it believes the situation is not healthy, notes Ladds.

"You have indicated that you feel that there are abuse issues that took place while you were a player with Cobourg that make it difficult for you to return to Cobourg," Ladds states, in the letter to Turcotte's parents. "You have provided us with a letter stating such. I have spoken with (Tyler) Turcotte and asked him to provide us with more details with respect to those issues, which to date we have not received."

Bolahood says the Cougars are aware of the complaint and that Giacalone will contact the OHA when she returns from vacation later this week. He says that any claims of verbal abuse from a Cougar player or players would be the "first he has heard of it," and that Cobourg prides itself on how it looks after its players.

"Whatever the OHA will need and whatever protocols are necessary, we will follow," says Bolahood. "We did not do anything wrong."

The Turcottes say they are investigating whether to pursue verbal abuse and slander criminal charges against the Cougars.

"He is the kid and they are the adults," says Tyler's mother Suzanne. "They are supposed to be professional. We do not talk to him the way he was spoken to, why can they?"

Turcotte is still a Cougar and has been told he can return to the team, says Bolahood. Turcotte says he has no intention of joining the squad again and he will make an appeal to Hockey Canada to be released from his two remaining years with the Cougars.