NHL's Winnipeg Jets’ goalie Ondrej Pavelec apologizes for driving while he being drunk
Ondrej Pavelec, goaltender of Winnipeg Jets last season, has admitted and apologized for driving while he was drunk in his native country, the Czech Republic. A court banned Pavelec for 20 months from driving.
He has also been given six months prison suspension sentence for becoming cause of an accident.
This accident took place in goalie’s hometown Kladno, which is to the west of Czech Republic’s capital, Prague. Though there were no casualties and did not cause injuries to anyone but he had hit a car with his BMW.
Ban is only applied for Czech Republic and will only stop him from driving him in his North America, the judge Ivo Postulka cleared. The ban would go into effect from 10th July, 2012 to 10th March 2014.
In a press statement which was released by Winnipeg Jets, the 24-year-old apologized to all of his fans, his team-mates and his organization for the embarrassment he caused to them and was thankful that nobody was injured in the accident. He told that Police
had arrived at the scene when that accident took place and asked him to give alcohol test in which he got caught. The statement exactly said,
“I’m disappointed in myself for this error in judgment. I’m thankful no one was injured as a result of my actions. I want to sincerely apologize to our fans, the Winnipeg Jets organization, and to my teammates for any embarrassment this has caused. I’m truly
sorry for letting you all down.”
The court also made it clear that he would be forgiven and case will be dismissed if he is found guilty of doing anything of that sort again. Pavelec said,
“The case will be dismissed in 12 months provided I have no alcohol related violations during this time”.
Ondrej Pavelec first played for an NHL team when he represented Atlanta Thrashers in 2007-2008 season. Next four years, he spent most of the time in a mix, at both Chicago Wolves and Atlanta Thrashers, playing almost equal time for both of them.
He was signed by Winnipeg Jets for five years last year.
Winnipeg Jets issued their official statement which said,
"The organization was deeply disappointed to learn of this information [Monday] and is fully aware of the seriousness of this matter".
They also said they would determine course of action once they have a chance to meet Ondrej Pavelec in person, which they expect to do as early as possible.
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