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Barry Trotz, Capitals players stand behind Devante Smith-Pelly after racist encounter in Chicago

By Donya Abramo

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February 19, 2018 3:48 pm

In the shadow of a 7-1 loss to the lowly Blackhawks and an altercation involving Devante Smith-Pelly and four hate-spewing fans at United Center, the Washington Capitals practiced in Buffalo on Sunday.

Tom Wilson, Madison Bowey, and Barry Trotz all addressed the media about the racist incident and spoke about how they were supporting DSP.

“I went up to him and how we got your back, you know. He’s one of our teammates,” Wilson said. “He’s obviously one of my good buddies. I just told him, ‘hey dude. Let it go. We’ve got your back. It’s BS.’ Hopefully there’s some accountability for that guy, or whoever did it.”

The players and coach also addressed their disbelief on what happened and how they hope society changes.

“Like I said, there’s no room for it in sport,” Trotz said. “There’s no room for it in our country. It just brings [to] light that we’ve still got a long way to go.”

Madison Bowey

Madison Bowey: Yeah, obviously in this day and age, in this society you would hope, or you would think at least, that kind of stuff would be left behind or not spoken of any more. But obviously it’s tough to hear. I feel really upset for Devo to go through that. I know we all support him here. It’s something you don’t like to hear and it kind of makes you sick to your stomach a little bit. But it’s part of the game I guess, and that’s one thing we’re trying to get out of the game and trying to make it more diverse. This month especially being Black History month, I think it’s very important to try to show that. And I think that’s definitely taking a step back in that sense. It’s tough to hear and you feel bad for Devo, but I think he handled it pretty well. Kudos to him for doing that. I think it’s not a situation you want to be put in. It’s definitely tough to hear.

I think he showed remarkable restraint under the circumstances. I don’t know that I, myself, would’ve been able to do that.

Madison Bowey: I think he’s a true pro and a very mature human being, and he showed that last night in his character. I think it’s in the league’s hands now and they’re going to deal with it how they deal with it. But I feel it’s something we’re trying to get out of this society and it’s something that we’re trying to change. It kind of makes you feel pretty sad that that’s still going on in the world right now. We’re all here to support Devo and it’s something we hope not to have happen again.

Is that anything that you’ve ever had to deal with?

Madison Bowey: I’ve actually been pretty fortunate not to run into any encounters such as that. My dad always warned me that it could happen. At this day and age you don’t expect it to, but like I said it makes you kind of feel pretty sick that people out there are still feeling that way. I think society has to do a job at changing that and I think something has to figure something out here.

Tom Wilson

You’ve known Devante Smith-Pelly for a long time. Is that hard, to hear about what happened last night?

Tom Wilson: Yeah, it’s really hard. Devo is an emotional guy, he wears his heart on his sleeve. I’ve known him, like you said, for a long time. We grew up together. He’s a great kid. It’s just sad. It’s a huge bummer and something you don’t really want to see. And that’s putting it in the polite fashion. But you know what, Devo’s a great kid, he’s going to move on. Obviously you don’t want to sweep this under the rug, it’s too important, but he’s a pro. He’s a big part of this team. He’s going to continue to work hard and it’s not going to change anything. He’s going to keep doing his thing.

Barry Trotz has said a couple of you guys had talked to him last night.

Tom Wilson: I went up to him and how we got your back, you know. He’s one of our teammates. He’s obviously one of my good buddies. I just told him, ‘hey dude. Let it go. We’ve got your back. It’s BS.’ Hopefully there’s some accountability for that guy, or whoever did it. I think he’s probably feeling a little, hopefully, sick to his stomach.

Barry Trotz

How hard is it to reflect that this is an inclusive sport and show that it’s a small group of people”

Barry Trotz: Like I said, there’s no room for it in sport. There’s no room for it in our country. It just brings [to] light that we’ve still got a long way to go. From my standpoint, it’s disappointing, because for the 22,000 people in Chicago at the game last night, there was a lot of good people. A few individuals keep bringing the ugly part of society out and that was unfortunate.

Trotz on the security’s response.

Barry Trotz: They were excellent. Excellent. I think the NHL has done an excellent job. The Blackhawks did a fabulous job at getting the people out real quick. They’ll investigate it, that whole process, so it’ll be written up. They do an excellent job there. I think it’s more of the action in the, we’ve still got some work in our country and in sport. There’s no room for it. Let’s get rid of some of the ignorance.

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