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ECHL Suspends Jacksonville Player Accused of Directing Racist Gesture at Opponent

The ECHL suspended Jacksonville Icemen defenseman Jacob Panetta indefinitely on Sunday, pending a hearing, after Panetta allegedly directed a racist gesture toward South Carolina Stingrays defenseman Jordan Subban, who is Black.

Video footage from Saturday night's game between the teams shows Panetta, 26, making gestures toward Subban during an altercation at the beginning of overtime. Officials assessed 27 minutes in penalties, including a double game misconduct, to Panetta during the incident.

"More like @JPanetta12 was too much of a coward to fight me and as soon as I began to turn my back he started making monkey gestures at me so I punched him in the face multiple times and he turtled like the coward he is," Subban wrote on Twitter.