Akim Aliu elaborated on his Twitter allegations against Calgary Flames head coach Bill Peters during an interview with TSN's Frank Seravalli on Tuesday.
Aliu, a former player under Peters with the Chicago Blackhawks' American Hockey League affiliate, on Monday claimed Peters made racist comments to him during the 2009-10 season. In the TSN interview, Aliu recalled the specific interaction with Peters before an IceHogs morning skate.
“He walked in before a morning pregame skate and said ‘Hey, Akim, I’m sick of you playing that n— s—,’” Aliu said Peters told him about his decision to play hip-hop music in the locker room. “He said, ‘I’m sick of hearing this n—s f— other n—s in the ass stuff.’
“He then walked out like nothing ever happened. You could hear a pin drop in the room, everything went dead silent. I just sat down in my stall, didn’t say a word.”
At the time, Aliu was a 20-year-old forward in his first full professional season with the potential to crack the Blackhawks roster in the coming years. A second-round pick in 2007, he was sent down to the ECHL later that month, reportedly two hours after saying “Don’t f— talk to me” to Peters at practice in response to the coach snapping at him.
“Look at the numbers. I was on pace for 20 goals in my first pro season and I wasn’t getting any power-play or penalty-kill time. Zero special teams,” Aliu told TSN. “I feel like this ruined my career before it started. I don’t think that can be disputed. Then you get sent down to the ECHL, then traded to another organization and it’s an uphill climb from there.”
While Aliu did say he met with Peters following the initial locker room incident, and reportedly after captain Jake Dowell confronted the head coach, Peters did not apologize, according to Aliu.
"You know, I’m just sick of this n— s—. It’s every day. From now on, we need to play different music,” he said.
Seravalli also spoke with Simon Pepin and Peter MacArthur, who were in the room when the incident happened and corroborated the events.
Aliu made his initial comments on Twitter in response to the Maple Leafs' firing of head coach Mike Babcock last week. Peters was a member of Babcock's staff in Detroit.
Not very surprising the things we’re hearing about Babcock. Apple doesn’t fall far from the Tree, same sort of deal with his protege in YYC. Dropped the N bomb several times towards me in the dressing room in my rookie year because he didn’t like my choice of music. First one to
— Akim Aliu (@Dreamer_Aliu78) November 26, 2019
admit I rebelled against him. Wouldn’t you? And instead of remedying the situation, he wrote a letter to John McDonough and Stan Bowman to have me sent down to the ECHL. 20 year old on pace for 20 goals in his first pro year with zero PP/PK time was off to a great start in his
— Akim Aliu (@Dreamer_Aliu78) November 26, 2019
“This isn’t me being bitter," Aliu told TSN. "I sat on this a really, really long time. It broke my heart, I think it made my career go downhill before it started."
He added, “It’s tough to sit here while he just keeps climbing the ranks. After that incident, I got zero opportunity. I’ve made peace with it. I hope he’s honest and admits what happened.”