Canisius AD Tim Dillon today suspended forward Dan Bognar indefinitely for violating team rules. The incident follows Dillon’s Friday firing of head coach Brian Cavanaugh for what Dillon called “irreconcilable differences.”
The Buffalo News reported in today’s edition that Daniel Bognar, 21, was arrested by Buffalo police after exposing himself and fighting with customers at a Buffalo restaurant, Jim’s Steak-Out, about 1.5 miles from the Canisius campus. According to the News, Bognar pushed an officer and punched him in the face, before being subdued and handcuffed. The paper quoted a police report as saying that Bognar was charged with felony assault, obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
UPDATE: Under a plea agreement, Bognar was given a conditional discharge, meaning charges were erased from his record after one year.
Bognar, a 6-foot-4, 224-pound junior, has played in 30 games for Canisius, and with a career total three goals and eight assists for 11 points. He has tallied one goal and three assists in nine games this season. Bognar played in both Canisius-Mercyhurst games over the weekend, picking up an assist in the Griffs’ 4-3 road win on Friday.
A search for a successor to Cavanaugh was to begin immediately after his dismissal. Assistants Clancy Seymour and Stephen Fabilli are coaching the team in the interim.
On Nov. 15, 2012, Bognar asked to make this comment on this story:
“For the people reading this article I want to take a moment to offer you another perspective on the events described above. I made a poor judgement call at this stage in my life. I was a 21 year old college kid who had too much to drink and did not have the wherewithal to make the correct decisions that night. The charges were eventually dropped and I do not have a criminal record. As we all do, I have learned from my mistakes and have evolved into a responsible, law abiding adult with a successful career in finance and a passion for coaching minor hockey. In fact, I try to teach the kids I coach to conduct themselves professionally on and off the ice so that they don’t make the same mistake I did. I continuously, however, have to explain myself to co-workers and parents because unfortunately my youthful mistake continues to live on through the Internet. An incident like this can easily become your first and lasting impression on people. I hope any readers of this post can sympathize with my point of view and respect my effort to move on.”
