(WEST FARGO, ND) – West Fargo Public Schools officials are releasing their findings into an investigation that led to the resignation of girls hockey and softball coach Pat Johnson.
The investigation stemmed from an incident within the girls hockey program.
On January 28, Sheyenne High School Activities Director James Moe received an email from a player inquiring about accessing footage from the live stream system, Live Barn, used in the West Fargo Sports Arena, and further requesting a meeting. Two days later, another player requested that she would like to meet with Moe about the incident. That player said she witnessed another player on the team got struck by Johnson during practice.
On Monday, February 3, Moe obtained the footage. He viewed the incident brought forth by the athletes. Through the review, Moe was able to determine that another student was knocked down to the ice in a similar fashion to the first student, occurring within 30 seconds of each other.
The report from the district further explains the drill and says ‘as the student is about to collide with Johnson, he extends his arms and puts the stick into the girl’s back, causing her to fall to the ice.’ The incident with the second student-athlete happened a short time later ni the same manner.
“In examining the entire practice recording on video, it appears that Coach Johnson makes a concerted effort to move closer to where the girls are skating backwards in the drill,” the report said. “It also appears that he makes a more prepared effort to strike the second student as she is skating into that space.”
One of the student-athletes said she had a back injury from the game before and Johnson had acknowledged the injury at the start of the practice.
When meeting with Johnson, he explained that a player was ‘going to run into him, so he put his arms up to stop her from running into him.’ He told both Athletic Directors Justin Behm and Logan Midthun that, ‘he cannot move as fast anymore, so he couldn’t get out of the way.’
After being informed he’d be placed on leave from his girls hockey coaching position pending an investigation, Johnson said he would just resign from both positions – after it was clarified that the only position they were discussing was the girls’ hockey position.
The investigation revealed that Johnson was ‘found to be in violation of conduct approved by West Fargo Public Schools staff due to the physical actions with the student athletes using his hockey stick in what was deemed an illegal move by all hockey standards and rules.’
