Claude Giroux offered his “sincere apology” on Thursday for his, erm, actions toward an Ottawa police officer on July 1:
“I regret my actions on Canada Day and sincerely apologize to my fans, teammates and the Philadelphia Flyers organization for my misguided attempt at humor.
Following an investigation, law enforcement determined that charges are not warranted. I have the utmost respect for law enforcement and apologize to the Ottawa Police Department and specifically the individual officer. I will be making no further public comment on this matter.
I will not be distracted from my ongoing preparation for the upcoming season. I remain 100% committed and focused on working with my team to return the Stanley Cup to Philadelphia.”
When it comes to official statements, you won’t get much better than the phrase “misguided attempt at humor.” One can imagine that line will surface when teams want to make fun of the Philadelphia Flyers and their captain. Speaking of the Flyers, GM Ron Hextall also provided a brief statement regarding the situation:
“We’ve been in contact with Claude and the Ottawa Police Service and have been informed that no charges will be filed. Moving forward, we will deal with this incident internally and we will no longer publicly discuss this matter.”
The most important bit is probably that the team and player confirmed that the 26-year-old center won’t face charges for the ... altercation.
He will, undoubtedly, get a lot of grief from this “misguided attempt at humor,” but we’ll leave that to his opportunistic opponents (and one would assume his teammates as well).