Media members were shocked. Hockey fans were left confused. Experts in communication were puzzled too.
A post-game session after their Game 7 victory was a chance for the Barrie Colts to celebrate their impressive achievement of knocking out the favored Brantford Bulldogs in the OHL’s Eastern Conference final.
What happened next was an odd 90-second exchange where coach Dylan Smoskowitz and captain Kashawn Aitcheson kept responding to questions with a team slogan – “No one cares, work harder” – in a moment that went viral.
“I’m still not sure it was all real,” said reporter Peter Robinson, who covered the game Monday night for Barrie Today.
The OHL clearly wasn’t amused, issuing a $15,000 fine to the team for “conduct detrimental to the public perception of the league.”
“The OHL expects its member teams and staff to uphold high standards of professional behavior,” the league stated on Wednesday.
“The comments made during the post-game availability were found to be extremely unprofessional and did not serve well those dedicated media members covering the Ontario Hockey League.”
After clinching the conference title with a 5-0 win on the road, OHL communications director Josh Sweetland began by asking Smoskowitz and Aitcheson individual questions about the game.
Their replies were identical: “No one cares, work harder.”
Then it was reporters’ turn, with Robinson inquiring about how they felt contrasting their win with their Game 4 loss that had put them down 3-1.
“Yeah, that’s a good question,” Smoskowitz responded. “No one cares. Work harder.”
Three more questions followed. Each received similar brief responses ending with, “No one cares. Work harder.”
Sweetland then abruptly wrapped up the session. The league mentioned in its statement that no further comments would be made.
“To be honest, I still don’t think I fully grasped what I witnessed,” Robinson said from Barrie, Ont. “It was just that strange.”
Smoskowitz later appeared on Toronto radio station TSN 1050 and expressed his wish that his whole team could have taken part in the availability but learned it wasn’t possible due to room limitations at TD Civic Centre.
He admitted he opted for this unusual way of addressing media – instructing Aitcheson similarly – and immediately regretted it.
“That one’s on me,” he shared during Tuesday afternoon’s Over Drive show. “That was a major mistake and something I’ll learn from. And you can bet it won’t happen again.”
Robinson pointed out that there was no way for them to fit their entire squad into a small room already occupied by around ten media personnel and production staff.
“It simply wasn’t feasible; they should have realized this since they’d been there four times before,” he noted. “So I’m baffled why things unfolded as they did and why they seemed upset with the league over it.”
No response came from multiple messages left with the Colts organization.
“Reporters are there to do their jobs by asking questions,” explained Morgan Mc Lellan, managing partner at Sovereign Advisory Inc., a crisis communications firm based in Toronto. “When someone speaks unprofessionally or confrontationally, it’s remembered by media.”
“In sports, business or politics, treating journalists like enemies rarely pays off; better to keep adversaries on ice than bring them into press conferences.”
The press conference clip gained traction across sports websites and social media as several journalists shared their opinions.
“It’s unfortunate and quite disrespectful towards those just trying to do their jobs,” tweeted longtime OHL broadcaster/reporter Terry Doyle on X (formerly Twitter).
“These two look foolish,” tweeted Bruce Garrioch from Postmedia. “I’ll cut Aitcheson some slack since he’s young; but come on-this coach should know better.”
Matt Larkin , managing editor of Daily Faceoff , also chimed in on X.
“ Yeah , this isn’t nearly as cool as they thought it would be. ” he tweeted. “ It’s just cringeworthy. ”
The Colts faced elimination after losing 6-1 at home in Game 4 but rallied back with consecutive overtime wins (4-3) before delivering an impressive shutout performance (5-0) in Game 7 where Ben Hrebik made 40 saves.
“ Win or lose gracefully , ” Robinson added. “ This idea of sending messages through media almost never works. That’s why organizations hire professionals for these situations. ”
“ Just don’t try it. You’ll only end up looking foolish. They thought they were clever (Monday) night; how clever do they feel now ?”
The Colts were set to kick off their OHL Championship series Wednesday night against Western Conference champion Rangers in Kitchener.
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