NHL wives: Teammate’s fianc\u00e9e’s alleged harassment took ‘scary’ turn
Women in the hockey community are coming to the Karlssons’ defense.
Melinda Karlsson, the wife of Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, recently filed a protection order against Monika Caryk, the fiancée of teammate Mike Hoffman, according to the Ottawa Citizen. The alleged harassment included threats and hurtful comments about Melinda’s unborn child, whom the couple tragically lost in March.
The Karlssons say Caryk has been using social media to target them since November 2017, which Hoffman passionately denied. But it wasn’t just the Karlssons who noticed the frightening situation.
After the reports of the protective order spread Tuesday, Kodette LaBarbera, wife of former goaltender Jason LaBarbera, tweeted: “Her fixation with Mel has always been unhealthy. Then it became scary. So glad Mel is protecting herself. No team will welcome this girl to the room.”
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Julie Turris, wife of former Senators forward Kyle Turris, defended her friend as well.
“This crossed the line from cyber bullying to something entirely different in April,” she wrote on Twitter. “Unfortunate that this private matter has become public. Incredibly proud of my girl for standing up for herself and her family, it took courage.”
Added Marlee Hammond, the wife of former Ottawa goalie Andrew Hammond: “oh man if you only knew how unsurprising this actually is. horrible just horrible. and the worst part of all of this is how @MelindaCurrey just wanted to keep this private because she’s THAT nice of a person even when a person can be this cruel to her.”
In court, Melinda revealed the details of the harassment she has finally made public.
“Monika Caryk has uttered numerous statements wishing my unborn child dead,” Karlsson said. “She also uttered that she wished I was dead and that someone should ‘take out’ my husband’s legs to ‘end his career.’
The Senators announced Tuesday that they plan to investigate the claims alongside the NHL, and Hoffman said he will be cooperating with the probe, insisting it is not his fianceé who is behind the comments.
“There is a 150-percent chance that my fianceé Monika and I are not involved in any of the accusations that have been pursued [that are] coming our way. We totally understand there’s no place for cyberbullying,” Hoffman said in a statement. “We’ve offered to cooperate and do anything it takes to find out who is doing this, and support [the Karlssons]. Obviously this is a tough time that they’re going through, and we want to find out who is doing this, because for some reason it’s coming into our court, and it’s 150 percent that it’s not us.
“We have nothing to hide. We’re willing to cooperate in any way to solve this and figure it out, and prove that it wasn’t us.”
There is also an active Ottawa police investigation into the matter for alleged stalking.