The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Battle of the Hockey Gladiators has run into a Winnipeg road block in the form of the Winnipeg Police Services. Tournament organizer Darryl Wolski confirms the WPS has threatened to shut the event down unless it's sanctioned. In fact, any person physically present at the tournament could face jail time even if one complaint is filed. "It doesn't look good. It doesn't look positive," says Wolski in an interview with The Winnipeg Sun. According to Wolski, police have told him Hockey Gladiators must be sanctioned by the Manitoba Boxing Commission in order to be legal. At this stage, it's merely a 'prize fight'. Wolski says it cannot be approved by the commission because it, simply, is not boxing. The penalty if the event goes as planned and if a complaint is lodged could end up being as much as three months in jail and a $2,000 fine. The Winnipeg Sun is not aware of any complaints, to date, about Hockey Gladiators. Allayne Nott is an event co-ordinator at Winnipeg Enterprises. She says, "I don't think we would want to do an event that breaks the law." Participant Frank Bialowas, a Winnipeg native, calls the latest developments, "A bunch of crap." The Sun is also reporting Wolski pulled the $100,000 US prize money after the event was switched from Minneapolis to Winnipeg. Instead, players would receive performance fees. The reason for the move from Minneapolis was because the Target Center asked organizers to reschedule or move to make way for renovations. Ticket sales in Winnipeg are said to be brisk. More news should be forthcoming by the end of the weekend, perhaps as soon as Friday. For now, those involved are proceeding as if the weekend, scheduled for August 20 & 21, will go ahead as planned.
