Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
The resignation of Bill Peters as head coach of the Calgary Flames on Friday won’t mark the end of the controversy involving Peters directing the N-word at defenseman Akim Aliu. That incident occurred in 2009, when Peters was head coach of the Rockford IceHogs, an American Hockey League affiliate team of the Chicago Blackhawks. Aliu, meanwhile, was a highly regarded 20-year-old prospect on the IceHogs and two years removed from the Blackhawks selecting him in the second round of the 2007 NHL draft.
Sources close to Aliu tell Sports Illustrated that the 30-year-old native of Nigeria does not regard the controversy as limited to remarks by one coach from a decade ago.