Peoria Rivermen release player because of homophobic content on … – Peoria Journal Star
PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen released player Louie Rowe late Friday night when content the team deemed homophobic surfaced on the player’s social media account.
The 6-foot-6, 240-pound Rowe allegedly placed statements on his @LouieRowe17 Twitter account, including one on Friday morning directed at an ECHL team, the Kalamazoo Wings.
The K-Wings tweeted what looked like a pride version of their team logo. Rowe’s account responded with: “I knew the Kwings were soft but I didn’t know they were gay, trans and soft.”
Screenshots of the content were sent to the Journal Star. Some of the posts appeared to be removed from Rowe’s account by midnight going into Saturday morning.
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The tweets reached Rivermen team officials after their game Friday night, along with some other posts the team was not comfortable with. The Rivermen then released Rowe.
“Our organization does not condone that language, nor do we support that point of view or behavior,” Rivermen co-owner Bart Rogers said. “Those things do not represent the beliefs of our team, our partners nor our fans, nor the great sport we play. It does not represent the values of our organization.
“We are shocked, and we have immediately released Louie Rowe.”
Rivermen coach Jean-Guy Trudel confirmed the player’s release and did not comment further.
Rowe was signed earlier this month after he played eight games in the ECHL for Fort Wayne this season before his release there. He played his fourth game for the Rivermen in Friday’s loss to Knoxville and had one assist in his time with the defending champions.
The 28-year-old from East Lansing, Mich., also played in the ECHL last season for Maine, and spent four years in college hockey with Arizona State.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.