Canadiens scandal rumours abound

by James Mirtle on Feb 19, 2009 10:57 PM CST Comment 45 comments

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Something big is apparently about to hit in Montreal.

At Habs Inside/Out (which is down right now due to the traffic volume), Mike Boone reports that one French-language columnist is touting "a blockbuster story in Friday’s edition" of La Presse that pertaints to some of the Habs "enjoying too much of Montreal’s celebrated nightlife."

Rumours are also circulating on HFBoards tonight, and my inbox is full of emails from people wanting to know more.

Early indications are that it's something we haven't seen before.

A few high-profile commentators appeared on L'Antichambre, a television show, after the team's loss in Pittsburgh tonight, and they included former Habs coach Jacques Demers and several sports reporters. Here's a roughly translated snippet of their conversation provided by a friend of mine:

Jacques Demers: "Honestly, there are things I know, and what looks like what's going to come out [in the papers] tomorrow, I swear to you, I thought about Mr. Beliveau tonight ... and I just hope I'm dreaming. I'm a proud Canadien, the Canadiens are my life, and I hope I'm dreaming but I don't think I am."

Michel Bergeron: "I feel the same way. It's unbelievable. Tomorrow, hockey will be second. I don't like at all what I've heard today."

Bob Hartley: "If everything we've been told is true, I've never seen that in my life. If it's true, I'm going back to Atlanta [joking]"

Michel Bergeron: "The Canadiens are my roots, and my idols, like you guys...and it looks like the foundation is going to be shaken. Not just for the Quebecois but for anyone who wears the Canadiens sweater around the country. To me, what's happened, it's unacceptable".

Alain Crete: "We can't go into many details but something has happened that will implicate not just one Canadiens player but many. You'll be hearing more tomorrow."

Cyberpresse.ca reporter Rejean Tremblay, meanwhile, said he's recently received calls from police, a lawyer and those close to the team, and that the tales he's hearing are "juicy."

UPDATE French radio reports out of Quebec indicate that police are waiting for the Canadiens to arrive back in Montreal at the airport. More information is expected to be available by 2 a.m.

UPDATE Now it seems there's been much ado about nothing. Apparently the Kostitsyn brothers have some sort of a connection to previous arrests that were made recently.

I'll post if the full story manages to come out tonight, but it appears quite a few people have been making a mountain out of a molehill with this one.

UPDATE RDS.ca has more on this now, essentially reporting that the Kostitsyns are linked with "a suspected member of organized crime" named Pasquale Mangiola who was arrested on charges of drug trafficking. The police have several conversations recorded between Mangiola and the Kostitsyns and he's described as their "great friend."

RDS says Mangiola "would do a number of services for both players on their outings to bars."

Lapresse_medium

UPDATE The report from La Presse (Friday's front page seen above) is now available here in a rough Google translation. There are not a lot of new details, but the ones that are available include:

Mangiola is apparently a big hockey fan and had gotten quite close to the Kostitsyns. He spoke "several times a week" to both brothers and they were often seen partying together.
The paper reports that he "played an important role in the life of the duo," taking them under his wing and helping them find housing and cars. Mangiola also apparently had access to the players' credit card statements.
The Kostitsyns would call him often with requests for various items and Mangiola acted "like a handyman" to fulfill their needs.

The players do not appear to be involved in any criminal activity themselves.

The story ends by saying that police in Montreal meet with Habs players every year to "warn them against the dangers facing professional athletes out of the rink ... the NHL also cautions players on a regular basis" about the fact organized crime members may try to get close to them.

I'm sure we'll be hearing quite a bit more about this going forward. For now, given what information we have, I think you can chalk all this up to the fact these are two young guys from another country who were caught up in the wrong crowd.

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The habsinsideout.com site isn’t down.. you just got to try and re-fresh it.. several times to get on..
I’m sure Mirtle will know whats goin down before any of us through reporter links.

But why isn’t TSN or Sportsnet putting up any info unless it is all still “rumours”?

Ps: In the yahoo pool, I think all my teams scoring happened in one night.. ugh!

by robindingwell on Feb 19, 2009 11:10 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

sorry to double post…
But, even though I am a die hard Canadien’s fan..

Shouldn’t the reporters be more pressed to talk about and give thoughts to those involved in the Albany bus accident?

by robindingwell on Feb 19, 2009 11:12 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Man if this is a bunch of press over like, a stolen Snickers i am gonna be pissed.

Ain't nothing but puck drops and poke checks, babydoll.

by wrap around curl on Feb 19, 2009 11:27 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Pure

rumour mongerage. but since it’s the filthy Habs, it’s all good.

Sports And The City

A Toronto sports blog, where we unequivocally and unapologetically support the home team...

by eyebleaf on Feb 19, 2009 11:37 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

rds.ca and Team 990 just reported that the brothers Kostitsyns are “alleged” to be involved with organized crime..
http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/269591.html

terribly by google..

Embarrassment
Friday, 20 February 2009
RDS.ca
Print

Andrei Kostitsyn and Sergei Kostitsyn. (Photo Getty) La Presse newspaper today published a dossier on embarrassing brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn who have links with a suspected member of organized crime who was arrested under the police operation axis.

This alleged criminal Mangiola Pasquale, 38, was arrested for drug trafficking and he served as an intermediary between various criminal groups.

During the police investigation that led to Operation Axis, the police recorded several telephone conversations Mangiola without his knowledge. Several of these conversations have taken place with the Kostitsyn brothers.

More details to come

by robindingwell on Feb 19, 2009 11:55 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

oh those Kostitsyn brothers.

somewhere, Mikhail Grabovski is laughing.

Sports And The City

A Toronto sports blog, where we unequivocally and unapologetically support the home team...

by eyebleaf on Feb 20, 2009 12:02 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Jose Theodore can offer them legal advice, I’m sure.

Supporter of the Sergei Berezin "Give and Go" - You give me puck, then you go to hell

by bkblades on Feb 20, 2009 12:08 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Guy Lafleur can testify on their behalves, no doubt.

by Doogie2K on Feb 20, 2009 12:14 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

More than likely, Grabovski is bothering a teammate with his fists.

Gross Misconduct with yours truly

by HockeyJoe on Feb 20, 2009 12:09 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

it doesn’t bother Blake. he’s too busy putting up more points than any Montreal forward.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAAH

go leafs go.

Sports And The City

A Toronto sports blog, where we unequivocally and unapologetically support the home team...

by eyebleaf on Feb 20, 2009 12:23 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Well, I guessed it was a sex scandal. Gang related crime would have been my next one.

Supporter of the Sergei Berezin "Give and Go" - You give me puck, then you go to hell

by bkblades on Feb 20, 2009 12:03 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Sex scandal is still possible. You gotta keep the faith.

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized God doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and prayed for forgiveness. - Emo Philips

Neglectful father of David Quinowski

by marcello on Feb 20, 2009 12:15 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

You’re right, in Montreal anything is possible. Here’s hoping!

Supporter of the Sergei Berezin "Give and Go" - You give me puck, then you go to hell

by bkblades on Feb 20, 2009 12:24 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Sex would shock anyone who speaks French? Bah. Society has collapsed!

by rsm on Feb 20, 2009 1:01 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Sex scandals are only for Swedes.

See: Huokko, Jan; Lilja, Andreas; Huselius, Kristian; Tallinder, Henrik.

"Without good hard work, it is impossible to reach the pinnacle of success." - Anatoli Tarasov

by PRC on Feb 20, 2009 11:04 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I never get sick of “third man in” jokes with the last three.

by Afino on Feb 20, 2009 11:58 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Geez, the way everyone was talking, I was expecting something closer to the Washington Capitals limo incident than a couple of Russian players having thin ties to organized crime. (Was it Bure or Fedorov who was tied to a Russian mobster about a decade ago?) Not that it’s no big deal, but it’s not the horrifying scandal it’s been played up as, at least not so far.

by Doogie2K on Feb 20, 2009 12:04 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I think it was Bure. Fedorov had problems with alcohol, but I don’t think mobsters.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Feb 20, 2009 4:55 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

TRANSLATION OF ARTICLE HERE

An Embarrassing Situation For The Canadiens

http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2009/2/20/765177/an-embarrassing-situation

by Robert L on Feb 20, 2009 12:32 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

How hard is it to put 2 + 2 together?

Organized crime? Quotes like that? “Shake the foundations”?

I’d be willing to, um, BET, on what the scandal will be. \

It would certainly explain the dog-f#cking this year by certain Eastern European members of the club. Some of whom no longer play on the Habs. Some of whom were given a leave of absence to, as Carbo put it, “get their life together.”

I mean, come on. Too easy.

by Dr Van Nostrum on Feb 20, 2009 1:27 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Funny how all this stuff comes out in a bad light when the team is tanking.

Photos of Flyers stars at a frat party come out, and since they’re winning everybody just thinks it’s kinda awesome.

Granted organized crime isn’t nearly as tame, but a lot of this previous photo stuff was.

Swing by The Flyer Frequent if you have nothing better to do.

by Ben Rothenberg on Feb 20, 2009 2:05 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

When you are sucking, you better not feel like you should be out partying… just ask Tony Romo.

by Sct112 on Feb 20, 2009 8:34 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

This is a new low. Not for the Canadiens. For the Montreal media. I know drama sells, but seriously, this is just shameful. What is the problem, if even the journalists have to admit the players are not involved in any criminal activity themselves? They just met the wrong people. It’s unfortunate, but it’s not a big deal. Following the habs is less and less fun. I’m really fed up with all this crap.

http://softeuropean.wordpress.com

by Grrrreg on Feb 20, 2009 4:41 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

It appears to have gotten worse....much much worse....

via http://www.24hmontreal.canoe.ca/24hmontreal/actualites/archives/2009/02/20090220-020124.html

translation from HFBoards:

Four players of the Montreal Canadiens have been arrested Friday early morning, for drugs and “moeurs”(moral?) related crimes, according to a source close to the organization.

About a dozen player are suspected of being linked with this story. We ignore the identity of the players involved or arrested.

The Montreal’s Police refused to confirm this information.

These charges would seem to be more in line with what Demers and Bergeron were so upset about.

by ConfidoBoyd on Feb 20, 2009 4:51 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Well apparently sports radio is saying this isn’t true, but the story is still up. Apparently canoe related sites aren’t as trustworthy as I expected.

by ConfidoBoyd on Feb 20, 2009 5:35 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Typical

How dare the Canadians try and draw attention away from Sundin returning to Toronto!

(just kidding, it’s just too early to read google translations).

'Nucks Misconduct - Housing Swedish Millionaires Since 2000.

by Yankee Canuck on Feb 20, 2009 5:29 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

If all this is, is what James mentioned in his latest update – how jaded am I that I laughed because there are more substantial NCAA scandals and violations every year? Of course, with much associated hand-wringing and worries that evaporate as soon as everyone settles down and counts all the money that college sports brings in.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Feb 20, 2009 5:45 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Only in Montreal.

by Afino on Feb 20, 2009 6:37 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

If this is all there is to it (and it seems like a minor story) then Michel Bergeron, Jacques Demers, Rejean Tremblay et al behaved in a very unprofessional manner. They created a story or possibly commented as though they were insiders when they were as in the dark as the rest of us.

I would expect better from eklund (actually no I wouldn’t – I would expect he could do this on a bad day).

Where is the accountability for these mainstream media members?

by PuckStopsHere on Feb 20, 2009 8:49 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

No kidding!

Kostitsyn Drama, A Tale Of Overzealous Media

http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2009/2/20/765301/kostitsyn-drama-a-tale-of

by Robert L on Feb 20, 2009 8:58 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Well...

I mean, the real story isn’t entirely out.

The Kostitsyns would call him often with requests for various items and Mangiola acted “like a handyman” to fulfill their needs.

I think there’s more to this story.

But if not then yeah, Demers and those guys are just idiots.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Feb 20, 2009 9:19 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

So then...

….you know the real story?

When it comes to the Montreal media, where there’s smoke, there usually just more smoke!

They’ll fan it for all it’s worth.

by Robert L on Feb 20, 2009 10:03 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

No, I said that I think that there is more to it. It would have been great if the media had waited until there was more certainty.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Feb 20, 2009 10:32 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

There is no accountability in the Montreal mainstream media, when it comes to the Canadiens.

The journalist that started this sh*t is Rejean Tremblay (a known moronic racist retard with too much influence) who unfortunately works for La Presse, the biggest newspaper in Quebec.
Because his newspaper is backing him (Why wouldn’t they? they probably set new sales record with this crap this morning), he can spew as much nonsense as he wants.

The rest of the TV guys (on l’Antichambre and 110%) got their information from 2 sources:
1) Jean Perron – who admitted to getting his info from:
2) Rejean Tremblay

So it all boils down to 1 guy and his inflated ego. Nothing anyone can do about it.

by Habs on Feb 20, 2009 9:36 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

There is no accountability in the ~~Montreal~~ mainstream media, when it comes to ~~the Canadiens.~~ anything.

The Toronto Media will do this about the Leafs, and lately my Coyotes. Media everywhere gets to specualte about anything and everything now without much consequence. It’s really quite sad.

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Five For Howling

by Travis Hair on Feb 20, 2009 9:55 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

No kidding

It’s worse when they do it about important things.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Feb 20, 2009 10:32 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I’m a tad old-fashioned, but I still see a (albeit rapidly blurring) difference between traditional media and the tabloid hacks whose first goal is to plaster sensationalism across the newsstands.

You throw in a cultural religion like the Canadiens — and former Habs coaches who seem desperate to remain relevant bishops in that religion — and you’ve got the ingredients for a media circus.

My reactions to this story went: 1) Oh, it’s Montreal media frenzy again; to 2) Wait, it has legs?; to 3) Oh, “handyman to fulfill their needs” is nice and wide open, isn’t it? From trafficking to securing a girl’s number, who knows? By building a frenzy for their “exclusive” — the most useless “feature” of media, in my book — they got what they wanted. Now we have to wait to see if the fuss was warranted.

Lighthouse Hockey: SBN's New York Islanders blog with hip issues.

by Dominik on Feb 20, 2009 12:57 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Hell, isn’t rumourmongering and overreacting exactly the sort of thing they waggle their fingers at bloggers over?

by Doogie2K on Feb 20, 2009 4:21 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Don’t forget the spelling and grammar! They waggle their fingers over that, too. :)

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Feb 21, 2009 12:04 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

L'Antichambre

Sounds like the most irritating sports show on television. How long did they go on about the horrible secret they were unable to share with their viewers? Mind you, anything with the likes of Bergeron and Tremblay was kind of bound to be…

This is, so far, classic Canadiens journalism. Even the Toronto media doesn’t go to this kind of breathless, moralistic extreme, at least without some sort of justifiable cause.

I've been looking at the sky

by Back In Black on Feb 20, 2009 11:18 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Tremblay is not on L’Antichambre, thank god. It’s actually not as bad of a show as 110%, which is the Jerry Springer of sports television…
Admittedly yesterday’s show was atrocious though and they were piling it.

by Habs on Feb 20, 2009 12:13 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

James, as a member of the fourth estate...

…what say you about how this was handled?

by hockeycountry on Feb 20, 2009 11:24 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I think we need all of the information to come out. Unfortunately right now it looks like these guys were reacting to either trumped up rumours or rampant speculation about what was happening here.

That said, media are going to be reluctant to print anything until there are charges laid. It is possible some members of the Habs could be in serious trouble here.

by James Mirtle on Feb 20, 2009 12:07 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

The French hockey media strikes again!

BS! People should hunt down few journalist for this.
Stuff like this keep the real stars away, if they don’t make up stories they wrote some other unrelated things..

I bet all free agents just compete who can sign with Habs now…idiots

by nudge on Feb 20, 2009 2:15 PM CST reply actions 0 recs