TORONTO -- Phil Esposito, president and general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, was charged with assault by a Toronto sports writer Thursday nightfollowing his team's 5-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The incident occured when Esposito attempted to have Bob McKenzie, a columnist with the Toronto Star and former-editor of The Hockey News, removed from the Tampa Bay dressing room.
The situation quickly escalated into an angry shouting match as several Tampa Bay players attempted to seperate the two men. When McKenzie still refused to leave Esposito reached over and struck him in the neck.
McKenzie then turned and left the dressing room to call the police while Esposito, restrained by his players, continued to shout obscenities at the Toronto sports writer.
An hour later, four police officers arrived at Maple Leaf Gardens to charge Esposito with assault.
'He tried to deny me access to the dressing room and he can't do that,' McKenzie said. 'When I wouldn't leave, he tried to make me leave.
'Beyond that I have no comment.'
'We are going to lay charges,' constable Philip Chung said. 'We have to go to his (Esposito's) hotel to get his version then we are going to arrest him for assault and take him to the station.'
McKenzie, who is one of hockey's most respected columnists, has had a long running feud with Esposito but says he has no idea what caused Esposito to go after him.
'I know he hasn't been returning my calls lately,' McKenzie said. 'I guess it could be any number of things.'
