Murray reacts to Simmonds incident

By now, I’m sure most everyone has seen and/or heard about the awful incident last night in London, Ontario, where a fan threw a banana on the ice in the direction of Wayne Simmonds, the former Kings forward now playing for the Philadelphia Flyers. To read more about the incident, and the reaction, you can check out the Philadelphia Daily News’ story by clicking here. True to his nature, Simmonds handled the incident with class and dignity. It’s shocking to think that something such as that could happen, but it made me wonder just how uncommon it was. Today, I asked Terry Murray whether, during his three years coaching Simmonds with the Kings, he ever encountered any racism directed Simmonds’ way.

MURRAY: “No. No racial comments by anybody. Never heard anything, never saw anything. Have I ever seen it before? Yeah, I sure have. (While coaching,) I had a player in Florida, Peter Worrell, and he went through quite a bit playing in the Quebec Major Junior league. Even playing in the pros, I didn’t see it or hear it, but there was an article written at one time where a player said something during a game that was kind of (captured) on video. It was never proven to be true. I think we’re by that stuff. It’s unfortunate what happened last night. I feel bad, but I know Simmer well enough that he’s going to move on, and that’s a good thing. Clearly what happened in London last night should never happen, anywhere. We’re in 2011, my goodness. Let’s get with it here, people, and know that the athletes are athletes. It’s an unfortunate incident.”