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Hockey stadium apologizes for upside-down retirement banner ceremony

By Daniel Uria
Memorial Coliseum Executive Vice President and General Manager Randy Brown apologized for a Saturday night gaff in which former Fort Wayne Komet Colin Chaulk's number 91 jersey was raised into the rafters upside-down.
 Screen capture/WANE
Memorial Coliseum Executive Vice President and General Manager Randy Brown apologized for a Saturday night gaff in which former Fort Wayne Komet Colin Chaulk's number 91 jersey was raised into the rafters upside-down. Screen capture/WANE

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Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A minor league hockey stadium in Indiana apologized after accidentally raising a banner upside-down during a jersey retirement ceremony.

Memorial Coliseum Executive Vice President and General Manager Randy Brown apologized for the incident Saturday in which former Fort Wayne Komet Colin Chaulk's number 91 jersey was raised into the rafters upside-down.

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"On behalf of the Coliseum, we deeply regret the mistake that was made," Brown said. "It was an unfortunate mistake that the coliseum deeply apologizes to all Komets fans, the Franke family and Colin Chaulk and his family. We are embarrassed by the error and will do everything possible to ensure that it doesn't happen again moving forward."

The banner has since been fixed and the Komets were victorious that night, despite the laughter that emerged from the crowd of 9,515 after the mistake.

Brown said the team was not at fault for the banner flip and took full responsibility for the blunder.

"The coliseum takes full responsibility for the mistake and the banner. It is not the Komets' fault," he said. "They had nothing to do with this and we are deeply sorry for what happened."

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After the game Chaulk fielded questions about whether he believed the act was deliberate, but said he enjoyed the night either way.

"It's unfortunate," he said. "I would think you would double-check that before you put it out there. I've learned that it's how I respond to things and it's definitely out of my control. It was a great night, I enjoyed myself and I was happy for my family to be here."

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