WATCH: Leafs goalie James Reimer directed fans to go after him and not his family if they’re upset.
TORONTO – With the regular season wrapping up in the next few weeks, the Toronto Maple Leafs are struggling to claim a playoff spot. They’ve lost their last five games and currently sit in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, far behind their biggest rivals – the fourth place Montreal Canadiens.
Needless to say, fans are upset and are looking for someone to blame. With the Leafs regular starting goalie, Jonathan Bernier, currently injured, they’ve picked backup goalie James Reimer to unleash on.
Reimer has been in a downward spiral of late. He’s 1-5-0 with a 3.65 goals-against average and an .894 save percentage. He was pulled from Sunday’s game against the New Jersey Devils in favour of Drew MacIntyre, who could get his first career start in Tuesday’s game due to Reimer’s recent performance.
Hockey fans picking on goalies is nothing new and could be considered the top armchair sport around. What is new, however, is fans attacking a goalie’s wife.
Reimer’s wife April began receiving vitriolic messages aimed at her on Twitter after Saturday night’s 4-3 home ice loss to the Canadiens. People told her to divorce him, get him psychiatric help, and many other unmentionable things.
https://twitter.com/rebelmusic84/status/448102820483727360
April kept her cool and tweeted back on Sunday “Don’t mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance or my kindness as weakness.” She tagged it with #goaliewifeproblems.
By Monday afternoon many of the original tweets had been removed as people came to her defence with support for her and James.
https://twitter.com/Carey4Ever/status/447920048330768384
https://twitter.com/kamimel/status/448220889843126272
https://twitter.com/maceleg/status/448220419229634560
April made news last year when it appeared she gave Dion Phaneuf’s wife, actress Elisha Cuthbert, an icy look during Game 4 of the playoffs. She later tweeted a photo with Cuthbert to debunk the ‘death stare’ stories, saying the look was about a comment a fan made to them.
SOUND OFF: Do you think it’s fair to attack an athlete’s family member? Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page.
-With files from The Canadian Press
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