The General Manager of the Clarenville Caribous is not condoning or excusing what happened during a game against the CeeBees in Harbour Grace, but says it could have been avoided had the proper security been in place.

Caribous defenceman Justin Pender has been barred from the Danny Cleary Arena in Harbour Grace indefinitely after the town council decided to take action following a violent altercation at the stadium on October 26th.

Pender had just been ejected from the game when he was taunted in the hallway by a group of CeeBees fans. Pender responded first by throwing his broken stick at the fans, and then going after one of them, repeatedly throwing punches at him.

The town of Harbour Grace runs the stadium and met yesterday to address the issue.

Pender, who received a three-game suspension from the league, was barred indefinitely from the Danny Cleary Arena, while the fan in question is also barred for several weeks.

Caribous General Manager Ivan Hapgood says the Caribous have no scheduled games at the arena for the rest of the season unless the two teams meet in the playoffs.

In the meantime, Hapgood says, it could all have been avoided had the proper security been in place.

He says security could have barred off areas of the arena, “which they’re supposed to have done” in accordance with conditions of the league.

Security was the “number one thing that went wrong” according to Hapgood who also points to fans who were standing on the glass, and going into the hallway and shouting at the player coming off the ice.

He also points to Pender, “who should have turned right and gone to the dressing room, instead of turning left and going down and engaging with the fans.”