NHL calls banana throwing 'stupid and ignorant'

TORONTO (AP) - The NHL calls it "stupid and ignorant.''

A banana was thrown from the stands in London, Ontario, on Thursday night as Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds was skating toward Detroit goalie Jordan Pearce during a shootout in an exhibition game. Simmonds is black.

"We have millions of great fans who show tremendous respect for our players and for the game,'' NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement Friday. "The obviously stupid and ignorant action by one individual is in no way representative of our fans or the people of London, Ontario.''

Despite the disruption, Simmonds scored in the shootout. The Red Wings won 4-3.

"It shocked me and I knew I had to keep going and get a shot off,'' said Simmonds, who is from Toronto. "It was certainly unusual.''

"I don't know if it had anything to do with the fact I'm black,'' he added. "I certainly hope not. When you're black, you kind of expect (racist) things. You learn to deal with it.''

He also scored with less than a minute left in the third period to make the score 3-3. Simmonds said Friday he wants to concentrate strictly on the game.

"It was unfortunate that this incident happened but I am above this sort of stuff,'' he said. "This is something that is obviously out of my control. Moving forward, this incident is something that I will no longer comment on so I can just focus playing hockey for the Philadelphia Flyers.''

Norton Sports, a California sports management group that does not manage Simmonds, offered a $500 reward for the identity of the banana thrower. The Twitter offer quickly drew others promising to add to the reward. As of Friday morning, Simmonds was a trending topic on the social network.

The rare NHL game at the 9,090-capacity John Labatt Centre drew a crowd of 7,427. The arena is operated by Global Spectrum, a subsidiary of the Flyers' parent company Comcast-Spectacor.

But Thursday's game was officially a home game for the Red Wings. The crowd loudly backed Detroit and was invited on the public address system to consider various ticket packages to Wings' games.

Kevin Weekes, a former NHL goaltender and current CBC color commentator who is black, had a banana thrown at him during the 2002 playoffs in Montreal while he played for Carolina.

"I'm not surprised,'' said Weekes. "We have some people that still have their heads in the sand and some people that don't necessarily want to evolve and aren't necessarily all that comfortable with the fact that the game is evolving. I understand that firsthand - I'm the first black national broadcaster in NHL history, the first black broadcaster on 'Hockey Night in Canada.'

"The reality is that there's still some people that aren't very comfortable with that. Sometimes I'll get examples of it on Twitter.''

San Jose Sharks forward Logan Couture, who grew up near London, posted: "Wayne Simmonds is a good friend of mine. To hear what happened tonight to him in my hometown is awful. No need for this in sports, or life.''