Sources: Panthers' Belfour scuffles with teammates

[Rock]

Sources: Panthers' Belfour scuffles with teammates

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/panthers/cont...nthersfeed.html

By Brian Biggane

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Panthers goaltender Ed Belfour, who has gotten into trouble off the ice in the past, scuffled with teammates, bartenders and bouncers Thursday night at a nightclub attached to the hotel where the team was staying, according to two sources who witnessed the incident.

The Panthers' other goaltender, Alex Auld, was hurt later while they were "horsing around" in the hotel lobby, Belfour said Saturday. Auld needed an unspecified number of stitches for a cut over his right eye.

A source who witnessed the nightclub incident at the Posh club in Garden City, N.Y., told South Florida reporters that Belfour was drunk. But he denied that.

"There was no alcohol involved whatsoever," said Belfour, 41, who is in his first year with the Panthers. "I don't even know why we're talking about it." Belfour was in the nets Saturday night for the Panthers' game against the New York Islanders.

Panthers coach Jacques Martin said Auld, who practiced Friday and Saturday, also was available. Martin said Belfour's behavior was a "personal matter" that the team would address.

In 2001, Belfour was charged with resisting arrest after a confrontation with police and security guards at an upscale hotel and bar in Dallas.

The episode Thursday night followed a 2-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils in East Rutherford. After the game, the team traveled by bus to the Garden City Hotel in Long Island.

Belfour said he and some teammates "were all just hanging out together" at a restaurant, watching the World Series, before going to the nightclub.

The witness who contacted reporters said a belligerent Belfour had to be coaxed out of the bar by teammates.

Auld said he was hurt when they reached the hotel lobby.

"They have the marble floors there, and they're slippery," Belfour said. "We were just horsing around with each other, I dropped my bottle of water and we all slipped. Alex hit his head when we fell down." Police were called by the hotel and Auld was taken to a nearby hospital for stitches. Police in Garden City said there was no report.

Hotel employee Rocio Jimenez, who described herself as director of rooms, at first volunteered a security report of the incident when asked about it Saturday. Moments later, she said no information was available.

Players would not discuss the episode, although captain Olli Jokinen said: "You want to act like a professional player outside the rink as well. Whatever happened, there's no reason to look back." In March 2001, Belfour, who was playing for the Dallas Stars, was charged with resisting arrest after a brawl at The Mansion on Turtle Creek, a fashionable hotel. He reportedly slammed a security guard against a wall and was restrained only after authorities used pepper spray.

When put in a police car, Dallas officers said he offered them $100,000 to let him go, progressively increasing the offer until it reached $1 billion. He pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and received 24 months probation and a $3,000 fine.

The NHL and the Stars arranged for him to meet with mental health and substance abuse counselors in the days after his arrest.

Later that year, Belfour walked out on his team during a morning skate before a game in Boston and was suspended three games by coach Ken Hitchcock, costing him $134,000 in salary.

Edited October 29, 2006 by Rock

[Derek21]

Hmmmm.

[NJDevs4978]

Echoing a post from another thread:

Now you know it's hockey season!

[annabelle]

Eddies awesome, he can't help the way he is..Manitobans like to drink and get in sh!t, nothing else to do! Auld just couldn't keep up...

lol jk

Eddies still awesome

[brodeurgirl30]

I always hate to hear stuff like this. Sometimes hearing about a player's personal life (Daneyko, Belfour, Marty) takes away from the game for me. I would rather just respect them as athletes and not know all the other stuff. With that said, what's done is done. Maybe Eddie will have to sit a few games which will only let Marty eat away a little more at his record

[Rock]

This from the Toronto Globe & Mail:

Shoalts: Panthers pull out the stops after Belfour episode

DAVID SHOALTS

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

Globe and Mail

Forget about the so-called goaltender controversy with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's a media-driven deal that does not amount to anything.

For a real goaltender controversy look south to Florida, where the Panthers are trying to slam the door shut on an incident in which one of their goaltenders, former Leaf Ed Belfour, was admittedly responsible for having their other goaltender, Alexander Auld, taken to the hospital for several stitches over his right eye in the wee hours last Friday.

Belfour is no stranger to wacky incidents involving late nights, early mornings, bars and the police, all of which were present when a night out for a group of Panthers at their hotel on Long Island, N.Y., turned sour. Nor is it unknown for him to have a prickly relationship with the other goaltender on his team.

Mind you, the Panthers' attempts to cover up the contretemps the next day were as wacky as anything that may or may not have happened in the hotel.

This was Belfour's first public mishap since March 8, 2000, when he was with the Dallas Stars. The Dallas police said Belfour was loud and appeared intoxicated that evening at a local hotel and had to be subdued with pepper spray. He pleaded guilty to resisting arrest, but the lasting memory from that evening was the police claim that he offered the arresting officers a $1-billion (presumably U.S.) bribe to let him go.

So far, no bribes have been reported as a result of last week's incident. Then again, Auld makes $1.5-million compared to Belfour's $750,000 (all figures definitely U.S.).

The incident occurred well after the Panthers arrived at the Garden City Hotel near Uniondale, N.Y., after a game in New Jersey against the Devils. Belfour told reporters a group of players repaired to the hotel nightclub to watch a World Series baseball game.

At this point, the accounts of Belfour and his teammates depart dramatically from those of two eyewitnesses who contacted two of the newspaper beat writers covering the Panthers.

The Panthers' version is that the cut near Auld's eye was the result of horseplay between him and Belfour some time after 3 a.m. in the hotel lobby. Belfour said they were wrestling and Auld slipped on some water spilled from a bottle one of them was carrying, fell on the marble floor and cut his head open.

The eyewitnesses told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper that Belfour grew belligerent in the nightclub. The injury occurred after a group of his teammates, including Auld, tried to get Belfour out of the bar and back to his room.

The police were called and Auld was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for repairs. No charges were laid. But both versions did not surface until Saturday, the day the Panthers played the New York Islanders, because of the Panthers' attempts to hush things up.

The team held its practice as usual on Friday on Long Island. The beat reporters noticed that Auld slunk into the dressing room with a tuque pulled down over his eyes, but were unaware of the drama in the hotel lobby.

This is not unusual, since everyone knows sportswriters do not frequent bars, nor do they keep late hours. But after practice, the Panthers closed their dressing room to the media. A team functionary said "bags" were being moved around in the room.

Then the reporters noticed Auld sneaked out again, with the tuque pulled down low again, in the manner of a second-storey man.

By the next morning, the reporters found out why there was a cloak-and-dagger routine. Two witnesses sent their versions of the story via e-mail and the chase was on.

The Panthers went into full damage-control mode. The water-bottle story was offered. Head coach and general manager Jacques Martin declared it an "internal matter" and would not discuss it. Despite the time and location, Belfour also offered this howler: "We weren't even drinking. There was no alcohol involved whatsoever. None."

There were no apparent consequences for Belfour. He and Auld have been rotating their starts, as Belfour is playing better after a slow start, and he started against the Islanders.

The team is still mum. Reached yesterday, centre Joe Nieuwendyk said he wasn't on the trip because of a back injury and offered the horseplay story. Gary Roberts did not respond to a telephone message.

It looks as if Auld will play tonight against the San Jose Sharks, leaving Belfour to start on Thursday when his old team, the Maple Leafs come calling.

This may or may not be a good thing for the Leafs.

[coldply123]

1 Billion Dollars...........Hahaha

[Rock]

This from CP via sportsnet:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/article.jsp...101_123958_4204

Belfour denies drunken bust up

November 01, 2006

SUNRISE, Fla. (CP) -- Florida Panthers goaltender Ed Belfour has denied reports he was involved in a drunken scuffle last week at a night club in Long Island.

The Palm Beach Post, citing two sources who witnessed the alleged incident, reported this week that the 41-year-old scuffled with teammates, bartenders and bouncers last Thursday night at a club attached to the team hotel in Long Island,

"I don't even know why we're talking about it," Belfour told the Post, adding "there was no alcohol involved whatsoever,"

But the night resulted in fellow Panthers goalie Alex Auld needing stitches. Belfour told the newspaper Auld was hurt later while they were "horsing around" in the hotel lobby.

"They have the marble floors there, and they're slippery," Belfour said of the hotel lobby. "We were just horsing around with each other, I dropped my bottle of water and we all slipped. Alex hit his head when we fell down."

Auld, who backed Belfour's story, was cut over his right eye.

Police were called by the hotel and Auld was taken to a nearby hospital.

The Panthers didn't immediately return a phone call Wednesday.

In 2001, Belfour was charged with resisting arrest after a confrontation with police and security guards at a hotel and bar in Dallas.