Mooseheads player suspended 10 games for allegedly targeting fan with stick

A Halifax Mooseheads player and NHL prospect has been suspended for 10 games by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) after allegedly jabbing a fan with a stick following a game last week in Gatineau, Que.

In a release, the league said Zachary L'Heureux's "gesture which occurred following the game simply cannot be tolerated by the QMJHL." L'Heureux, 19, has now been suspended a total of nine times over the course of his three seasons in the league.

The QMJHL had previously announced that L'Heureux, 19, would be suspended indefinitely. 

The incident took place after the Mooseheads lost to the Gatineau Olympiques on Feb. 8. 

Olympiques fan Holden Coulter, 16, told CBC News he was among a group of people who were standing, cheering and booing at ground level after the victory.

Coulter said he yelled out "Mooseheads suck!" before left-winger L'Heureux stuck out his stick and "started jabbing at us" as he got off the ice.

While Coulter said he was not hurt, he and his mother Stephanie told CBC last week they were speaking out in order to get the incident, the latest in a series of suspensions for L'Heureux, on the record.

"I'm not looking to tear the organization down," Holden Coulter said. "The important thing is that he gets on track and stops being such a hothead on the ice and now at ... fans."

Last year, L'Heureux was drafted by the NHL's Nashville Predators. The team signed L'Heureux to a three-year, entry-level contract in July 2021, but he has not been called up to play in the U.S. city. 

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