Justin Pender’s time with the Ontario Reign came to end in March with the arrival of Kings’ prospect Nick Ebert.
Now, Pender is gaining notoriety for entirely different reasons.
Playing for Canada in the World Ball Hockey Championships in St. John’s, Newfoundland -- think street hockey, no skates -- Pender was given a double match penalty at the end of Canada’s 5-1 semifinal loss to the Czech Republic on Saturday after he attacked a Czech player, injuring the player and an official looking to break up the altercation.
Pender, a hard-nosed defenseman who was not afraid to mix it up while with the Reign, lined up for a final face off after the Czech team scored an empty-net goal with a second remaining, according to reports. As seen in a video posted on YouTube (the action starts about the 2:00 mark), Pender reacted to something said to him by a Czech player, and went on the attack, throwing punches at the player and pushing him back toward the Czech goaltender.
One official was tangled up with the two players, when the Czech goaltender jumped onto the pile (including the official) and Pender continued throwing punches, hitting the goalie a couple of times, before being separated and leaving the playing surface.
The Czechs ended up losing to Slovakia in the finals, while Canada took home the bronze.
Monday, Pender took to Twitter to apologize (over 11 tweets):
“I would like to take this moment to apologize for my actions on Saturday June 8th. After the hockey game was over I let the behavior of a member on the opposing team anger me. My response to the taunting was misguided and someone was injured because of it. I would like to apologize to the Czech team members for my handling the situation poorly and truly hope that my actions will not be reflected in their opinion of my fellow team members. What I did is not representative of my team or how ball hockey is played in Canada. I would also like to send a heartfelt apology to the referee who was hurt when (I /another player) fell on him during the fight. Had I stayed calm and simply walked away this accident would have not occurred. Finally I would like to apologize to my team. As a member of a team hosting an international event I should have set a higher standard of sportsmanship for myself but I did not and it reflected poorly upon my team who worked so hard for this competition. Going forward I will make every effort to prevent this from happening again by remembering how my actions have impacted myself an those around me. I will be setting a higher standard for myself and my actions in order to develop better sportsmanship. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope it can give a sense of how truly sorry I am.”
Terry Ryan, the Canadian team captain, defended Pender -- to a degree -- on Twitter, saying that the Czech’s acted “classless” and were taunting Pender, who was playing in his home town. Ryan, a former member of the Canadiens franchise, said the Czech player had spit at the Canadian team and been chirping the team the entire game. And things were not any easier since neither of the game officials spoke English or French (they were German and Slovak, according to Ryan).
While Pender awaits any possible discipline, he is also going to be looking for a job over the summer, if he hopes to continue his ice hockey career. He has spent the last four seasons in the ECHL, and started the 2012-13 season in Bakersfield before joining the Reign. In 47 games with Ontario, Pender had a goal, 10 assists and 59 penalty minutes, and was a plus-10.
He was officially placed on the Reign’s reserve roster when Ebert was added, then was left off the team’s playoff roster. He is not listed on any ECHL team’s protected list.