A Canadian Hockey Team Sues The UM Student Paper

The Kitchener Rangers are seeking $1 million in damages over a story published in a Michigan student newspaper that claimed the club offered to pay a player to suit up for the team.

The defamation suit against The Michigan Daily seeks $500,000 in general damages and $500,000 in punitive damages and was expected to be filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Kitchener Tuesday, according to a team lawyer.

The story, which was published last week by the University of Michigan student newspaper, alleges, through an unnamed source, that the Rangers offered defenceman Jacob Trouba $200,000 in place of an education package to play in Kitchener. The team and Trouba family both denied the claim.

The Rangers play in the Ontario Hockey League, one of the stepping-stone circuits for National Hockey League players.