The UW-Madison men's hockey team took another hit in what has already been a turbulent season for the Badgers. UW-Madison sophomore forward Alex Leavitt told the press Wednesday of a physical confrontation between him and Head Coach Mike Eaves that occurred Nov. 23, 2002.
According to Leavitt, Eaves physically and verbally assaulted him in his hotel room after a 3-2 loss to North Dakota earlier that evening. Leavitt reported suffering an abrasion on his neck and a ripped shirt from the incident.
\It's gotten to the point where I can no longer live this lie,"" Leavitt said in the Wisconsin State Journal. ""I felt it was necessary that I told
the truth.""
""I apologized for my actions at North Dakota,"" Eaves said in an official statement. ""We met and left with a mutual understanding of what was expected of me, and I have fulfilled all of those requirements.""
Athletics Director Pat Richter said that the matter had been addressed and reiterated his support for Eaves, while questioning Leavitt's actions.
""Alex has kind of done his own thing,"" Richter said. ""Sometimes you just have to respond to it. It's more of a coaching situation because it has to do with an on-ice performance and that's completely unrelated [to the November 23 incident] as far as we're concerned.""
The ""ice performance"" that Richter referred to was benching Leavitt's along with senior wing Erik Jensen after they committed unneccessary penalties in a 4-1 victory over Alaska-Anchorage Feb. 7. The two did not make the trip with the team to Minnesota last weekend.
When asked if the situation with Eaves was resolved, Richter responded, ""I don't like to use the word resolved. We've got an ongoing plan that we are following based on the conversation we had at the time. It's a continuing work in progress.""
John Leavitt, Alex Leavitt's father, told the Wisconsin State Journal that UW-Madison officials offered several guarantees to keep the confrontation from going public. One of these guarantees was for Eaves to attend anger-management courses.
With the news spreading quickly around campus, students have varied opinions about the incident.
""Coach Eaves should not take out his frustration on one person when the problem is with the whole team,"" said UW-Madison sophomore Jacob Roder, who said he did not believe that Eaves should be fired.
UW-Madison senior Carl Johnson had a different take.
""I don't think you can justify keeping [him] around,"" Johnson said. ""He's not winning and it's obvious he is not a good coach if he has to resort to attacking players.\
