The Ohio State player who Michigan State hockey forward Jagger Joshua accused of calling him a racial slur is back with the Buckeyes, according to a university spokesperson. His return is particularly notable since MSU plays OSU this weekend in Columbus.
Kamil Sadlocha has been away from the team for more than a month after Joshua announced on Twitter that an Ohio State player directed racial slurs towards him at a game between the two schools at Munn Ice Arena on Nov. 11. Joshua has never named the Buckeye publicly, saying that his intention was simply to raise awareness of the issue. An official overheard the slurs and assessed Sadlocha a 10-minute game misconduct penalty.
Ten days later, Joshua took to social media after the Big Ten’s investigation yielded no further action.
A day after Joshua’s statement, Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith issued a formal apology. Sadlocha was sent away from the team indefinitely after having already played two games against Notre Dame.
The Big Ten conference released a statement, saying it “evaluated information” from the game’s officiating crew, both schools, and video footage from the incident. However, “due to the absence of indisputable evidence presented to the conference,” the Big Ten imposed no further punishment.
The conference said it “supported” the decision made by the refs, yet decided against punishing Sadlocha.
“(The decision) left me confused and frustrated with feeling like my voice doesn’t matter,” Joshua said regarding the Big Ten’s choice. “The Big Ten wasn’t listening to what I had to say, so I felt the need to express my feelings myself… if nobody’s gonna stick up for myself, then I got to.”
Michigan State is traveling to Columbus for a two-game series against the Buckeyes this weekend, the first time since the incident. There’s no update on whether Sadlocha will be available for the game.