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Former Kelowna Rockets captain takes responsibility for wild hockey brawl

In the end, Rodney Southam threw fewer punches than most players involved in the ugly hockey brawl between two Atlantic University Sport hockey teams at the start of February.

However, the former Kelowna Rockets captain has taken responsibility for starting the bench clearing melee.

Southam recently released a lengthy statement through Acadia University that explains his side of the situation and dives into his own personal history.

"On the way back to our benches, I got tangled up with the Captain of the X-Men. While the linesman was trying to intervene, I was pushed through an open door and into the X-Men bench. While this was happening I turned around to see Sam [Studnicka] spraying me up and down my back with a bottle of water as I was stuck between a player and a linesman. I then turned around and we started exchanging words back and forth. In the heat of the moment, I singled him out, saying "You look like a little ******* rapist," reads the statement.

Southam goes on to say he takes full responsibility for "something I should never have said," but that he was completely unaware of Studnicka's relationship to a sexual assault survivor.

The 22-year-old then explains he was once falsely accused of sexual assault when he played junior hockey in Western Canada.

Following the media coverage of the brawl, Southam says he also had to shut down his social media accounts due to threats made against him.

On Tuesday, 15 players and both head coaches from the Acadia Axemen and the St. Francis Xavier X-Men were suspended as a result of the incident.



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