The Ontario Hockey League has suspended Belleville Bulls forward Jake Marchment and Peterborough Petes center Greg Betzold 15 games each for contravening the league's social media policy.
The suspensions come in light of recent screenshots that were revealed on Twitter of Marchment - a sixth-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings at the 2014 NHL Draft - and Betzold using vulgar and abusive language in conversations with young women on Tinder, a matchmaking mobile app.
OHL commissioner David Branch released the following statement Wednesday:
The OHL takes issues related to respect, diversity and harassment very seriously. The social networking conduct displayed by these players goes against what the League stands for and serves to highlight a sense of entitlement that we, as a League, have worked hard to try to eliminate. We believe these suspensions, going forward, will reinforce to our players that all activity, be it in person, on the ice or online, must be in keeping with our policies. These events further illustrate that the League and our teams must continually work with our players to ensure they understand and appreciate our social networking policy.
Marchment offered the following apology for his actions on Tuesday.
Even though it was a private conversation, my comments were inaproriate, disrespectful, and I accept full responsibility for my actions.
— Jake Marchment (@JMarch11) November 4, 2014
I have embarrassed myself, my teammates, the Belleville Bulls organization and the city of Belleville. I truly apologize for my actions.
— Jake Marchment (@JMarch11) November 4, 2014
