Offseason 2023

[guest44]

Eigner recruited Swankler. Eigner brought Swankler into the BGSU locker room.

I'm not sure there was a lot of recruiting to do. Nobody else knew he had cleared with the NCAA. Some of these guys are recruited for a year or more before they commit. Not sure his was more than a week or two, during Covid.

Well he was in the locker room. He played a lot. He scored a lot. All Eigner's choice. Now, he is gone.

[vwfalcon]

To back up VWFalcon's post, My son was out last year in BG and ran across two players from the team. They both said Swankler was not well liked by most of the team. I think the "culture" he didn't like was being an outcast due to the way he acted, which makes sense. He also had to know once he reported whatever it was he reported, he was done at BG as a player. Seems like a calculated move on his part.

Reporting the complaint and then running to the media immediately is a helluva flex. All in the name of self-preservation it appears.

It’s all optics. With the allegation, the team can’t really speak on/about him, right, wrong, or indifferent without looking retaliatory.
It’s a smart PR move if you ask me. I hate it, but it is definitely a smart tactic.

[guest44]

Who are the three players suspended?

[Falconwriter]

Northwestern just provided a blueprint of exactly how not to handle this situation…it’ll be interesting to see if BG can just get to the bottom of things without completely destroying the program’s reputation.

Wonder if any reporters are digging into this at all or if they don’t really care and will just let the department release details at another time?

Still think it must be pretty bad if Eigner got suspended.

Actually, suspending the coach is procedural in matters like this because you have to investigate and can't have him on the premises, potentially muddling or influencing the investigation. If he's there, whether he does anything untoward or not, it leaves the entire process open for criticism.

It probably appears worse because in many of these situations the suspension then leads to dismissal -- but the suspension itself is basically to protect the integrity of the investigation.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

They finally got around to removing Swankler from the roster on bgsufalcons.com. His name also popped up in the portal.

[pdt1081]

Uh... Ben Shanahan (BG student, not associated with any type of news organization but is someone I would trust to know) is reporting that Swankler has left the program and is in the portal.

Please, nobody freak out about this until we see more reporting. I will post here if I hear anything more official.

Since this hasn't been touched on. Ben Shanahan seems to be a writer covering hockey for the Sentinel Tribune. Not exactly sure how the Sentinel is setup anymore, but his name is on the article written from Media Day.

[mbenecke]

I know him as a student and a guy associated with the BG Barstool stuff, but yes - I have since learned that he does contribute for the ST. He voted in the media poll, he's been covering the story. I would consider him to be a pretty credible source moving forward.

[guest44]

That speaks volumes to where the Sentinel-Tribune is at. A BGSU student doing articles on BGSU. Treat the Sentinel as a media branch for BGSU going forward.

[pdt1081]

That speaks volumes to where the Sentinel-Tribune is at. A BGSU student doing articles on BGSU. Treat the Sentinel as a media branch for BGSU going forward.

The Sentinel-Tribune is barely a shell of what it once was. Most articles on the website give credit to "staff writer." Not sure there is much content actually created by them.

[Flipper]

So...it would seem that...if I'm reading this right..something happened with the hockey team that hurt Austen Swankler's feelings to some extent. It may have involved...to some degree...activities that could be construed as hazing. Swankler was offended enough that he left the team and on his way out threw a bomb in the room by reporting the possible hazing. What's left to be determined is how much damage that bomb does.

Is that correct?

[mbenecke]

So...it would seem that...if I'm reading this right..something happened with the hockey team that hurt Austen Swankler's feelings to some extent. It may have involved...to some degree...activities that could be construed as hazing. Swankler was offended enough that he left the team and on his way out threw a bomb in the room by reporting the possible hazing. What's left to be determined is how much damage that bomb does.

Is that correct?

Kinda.

[jpfalcon09]

So...it would seem that...if I'm reading this right..something happened with the hockey team that hurt Austen Swankler's feelings to some extent. It may have involved...to some degree...activities that could be construed as hazing. Swankler was offended enough that he left the team and on his way out threw a bomb in the room by reporting the possible hazing. What's left to be determined is how much damage that bomb does.

Is that correct?

Swankler isn't involved in any of the hazing stuff. He reported it. The rumor is he was doing some shady stuff of his own and facing suspension from the coaches. There's no current evidence to support that though.

He is also reportedly not very well liked by current and former players. His actions seem retaliatory based on those two things.

[pdt1081]

So...it would seem that...if I'm reading this right..something happened with the hockey team that hurt Austen Swankler's feelings to some extent. It may have involved...to some degree...activities that could be construed as hazing. Swankler was offended enough that he left the team and on his way out threw a bomb in the room by reporting the possible hazing. What's left to be determined is how much damage that bomb does.

Is that correct?

There's also the part where if he transferred, he wasn't eligible to play this season. Unless, he was granted a hardship waiver, which is usually due to a coaching change.

Funny thing, he could've signed pro, walked away with his head up high because nobody would have known much of anything, while the fan base blamed the coach and gathered the pitchforks for not being able to retain talent. Instead, he chose a path that may have ended his career.

[Flipper]

He was on a lot of lists for top college UDFA's IIRC...I think he has a shot of landing someplace professionally, camps ae just opening, even if he lands someplace on a PTO, he seems to have the skills to get a contract even if he spends the year in the AHL

[AZIce]

BG has a lot of alumni in high ranking NHL positions, including two with kids ON this team. These people talk behind the scenes all the time.

If the current info is true, this is the 2nd team Swankler has left on less than good terms. Teams don’t want locker room cancers and coaches don’t want coach killers. I think he may not get as many shots as he thinks…..these things travel to management of all teams.