UNO Hockey's Matt White, Alex Simonson, and Preston Hodge Ticketed for Disorderly Conduct

From the "Nothing Good Occurs After Midnight" department, we get the following from the Omaha World-Herald:

Matt White, 25, Alex Simonson, 23, and Preston Hodge, 21, all members of the University of Nebraska at Omaha hockey team, were each ticketed Aug. 3 on suspicion of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

White and Simonson are both senior forwards, Hodge is an incoming freshman defenseman.

The circumstances surrounding the disturbance are even more disturbing, though.  The three hockey players were allegedly harassing a group of African-Americans with racial slurs.  It escalated from there, and Hodge ended up being knocked to the ground and may have suffered a head injury; he was taken to a hospital and treated and released.  White is alleged to have thrown a punch, while Simonson shoved others.

Dean Blais issued the following statement:

“We’re still gathering information about what transpired. Once we’ve finished gathering all the facts, we’ll be able to comment further."

I suspect that if the facts of the case match up with this initial report, and these allegations are true, Hodge's UNO career may be over before it ever starts. White's playing days in Omaha may be over as well, no matter how prolific of a scorer he's been. Racism - especially when it leads to violence - cannot be tolerated.

It's also important not to presume guilt in situations like this.  But if this story is substantiated, Blais won't have much choice in this matter.  No way UNO can tolerate a situation like this.