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Per AHL by-laws, Downie was considered automatically ineligible to play pending a review by the AHL (as the AHL honours NHL suspensions). One day after the NHL suspension was announced, the Flyers announced they had sent Downie down to the team's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms. To date, it is the fifth-longest suspension given by the League. Due to the extent of McAmmond's injury and having left his skates during the hit, Downie was suspended by the NHL for 20 games three days later for deliberate injury to McAmmond, as the NHL were cracking down on any play resulting in a head injury. He was involved in an incident in which he checked unsuspecting left winger Dean McAmmond into the boards, while his feet were off the ice.
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In his first full professional season in 2007–08, Downie's professional career got off to an inauspicious start during a pre-season game against the Ottawa Senators on September 25, 2007. On January 8, 2007, Downie was indeed traded to the Kitchener Rangers in exchange for Yves Bastien, the Rangers' second-round picks in the 20 OHL Priority Selections, as well as the 2007 second-round pick of the Brampton Battalion. Throughout the whole tournament, however, Downie was involved in OHL trade rumours. On January 5, 2007, Canada won the gold medal for the first time on European ice since 1997 with a 4–2 victory over Russia. Downie returned to the international stage yet again in December 2006, participating in the 2007 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Leksand and Mora, Sweden. I’m a gritty, physical player and I also am an offensive player as well." Īfter attending Flyers' training camp in the Fall and playing in several pre-season games, however, the club returned Downie to Peterborough. " was one of the goals that I had set at the beginning of the year and I am just very thankful for this chance. "It is unbelievable," said Downie in a Flyers press release. On May 30, 2006, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they had signed Downie to a three-year, entry-level contract. He made a name for himself at the tournament, contributing to Canada's gold medal-winning effort by scoring two goals and four assists in six games while also being named to the all-tournament team. I was attacked because of the color of my skin." īrent Sutter named Downie to the Canadian junior team for the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Vancouver. Aliu described other hazing incidents leading to the attack and stated he viewed them as being racially motivated, calling Downie a "racist sociopath" and further remarking "He looked at me and saw a black boy with a weird accent - and didn’t like me because of it.
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In 2020, Aliu would reflect on the incident in an opinion piece entitled "Hockey Is Not For Everyone". Downie left the team, requesting a trade, and was eventually traded to the Peterborough Petes in exchange for Peter Aston. was suspended by the OHL and later fired by the team, and the team was fined $35,000 by the OHL.
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The team suspended Downie for five games and Aliu for one, and Downie was told to undergo professional counseling. The incident stemmed from 16-year-old Aliu's refusal to take part in a hazing incident, where he would have been forced to stand naked in a cramped bus bathroom with other rookies. During a practice on September 28, 2005, Downie cross-checked Aliu in the face without warning, knocking out seven of his teeth, and then proceeded to fight his younger teammate. Not long after being drafted, Downie was suspended for five games early in the 2005–06 OHL season for an on-ice altercation with teammate Akim Aliu. Junior ĭownie was selected in the first round, 29th overall, in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. He was drafted in the first round, 16th overall, by the Windsor Spitfires in the 2003 OHL Priority Selection. Joseph's Catholic High School in Windsor, Ontario, in 2004. Downie led his Express Bantam team to the All-Ontario AAA Championship in April 2002. He played minor ice hockey for the York-Simcoe Express AAA organization of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA), and competed in the 2001 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with them. He has one sibling, brother Greg, and attended Sacred Heart High School in Newmarket. Downie grew up in Holland Landing, Ontario, the younger son of Anne and the late John Downie.
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