Yzerman: 'I think that it's a joke'
November 10, 1999

BY NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

Furious with allegations of abuse made by a Florida television crew Sunday night, the Red Wings responded Tuesday with their version of what happened at Tampa Bay.

Coach Scotty Bowman acknowledged that he pushed a cameraman but denied doing so violently, and explained why he did.

Captain Steve Yzerman acknowledged that he touched a camera that had been pointed at him, but he denied doing anything improper.

Forward Martin Lapointe denied threatening and spitting at a cameraman, whom he and Yzerman said had ignored repeated requests to back out of their sight lines on the bench.

In general, the Wings wrote off the allegations as an attempt by some free-lancers working for the Sunshine Network to gain attention by inflaming and exaggerating the situation.

No complaints have been filed with the NHL, and none are expected, but the league is investigating. Yzerman and Lapointe had to leave the ice during practice to speak with NHL Securities.

"It really wasn't much of an incident," Yzerman said. "This is silly.... I don't think it's all that serious. I think that it's a joke. This guy's getting his 15 minutes of fame, and that's enough."

The first incident occurred after the second period, when defenseman Chris Chelios took a penalty with 10 seconds left that gave the Lightning a two-man advantage. Bowman walked down the tunnel and allegedly shoved a cameraman into a stage manager before yelling obscenities.

"I wanted to get to the dressing room to watch the penalty again," Bowman told Booth Newspapers. "The cameraman was blocking the way. I didn't punch him. I did push him to the left, enough to make my way to the coach's office."

The second incident occurred 2:01 into the third period, after the Lightning had scored for a 3-1 lead. A cameraman stationed between the benches pointed his camera at Yzerman and Lapointe.

Yzerman allegedly reached around the glass to grab the camera; Lapointe allegedly threatened and spit at the cameraman. Yzerman and Lapointe said the cameraman was blocking their view of the ice and refused to back up. Other players said the cameraman taunted them.

"I asked him to move back; he ignored me," Yzerman said. "I asked him again; he ignored me. Marty asked him the same thing; he ignored us. So Shanny went and got the referee to have him removed, and that's all there is to it.

"I touched his camera, but I didn't push him at all.... Nothing we said or did in any way can be considered harassment, verbally or physically. Anything said in that line or in that regard is a complete exaggeration of the truth."

Asked whether he were falsely accused, Lapointe said, "Obviously. First of all, I would never spit on somebody. I would punch 'em first. Nothing happened. That's the fun of the story.

"I said, 'Do you want that water? Do you want a little bit of that water?' I never squirted it on him. That's all I said.... Now I wish I had squirted the guy, because he deserves it after all he said."

Shanahan said the cameraman probably made the allegations because he had been ejected from the game. Shanahan also wondered why there was no tape to corroborate the allegations.

"It was just an outright lie," Shanahan said. "You're not going to find too many people sympathetic to professional athletes, so it's easy for him to slander Marty. And slander he did.

"I mean, the guy had a camera, so I'm sure if it were true, we wouldn't just be saying it, we'd be watching it on TV right now.... It'd be on 'Hard Copy' by now."