Two B.C. newspapers have apologized after triggering a social media firestorm with a racially charged description of one of the Canucks’ prospects.

The Vancouver Sun and The Province both posted a picture of defenseman Jordan Subban Tuesday night celebrating a goal in the Canucks’ 4-2 pre-season win over the San Jose Sharks.

The caption read “Vancouver Canucks celebrate goal by Jordan Subban (dark guy in the middle).”

Outraged fans quickly took to Twitter, where they chided the papers for crudely and unnecessarily drawing attention to Subban’s race.

Both the Sun and Province removed the offending caption minutes after it was brought to their attention, and issued separate apologies online.

On Wednesday, Sun editor-in-chief Harold Munro said he had also reached out and apologized directly to Subban.

“It’s a terrible mistake,” Munro told CTV News. “We’re taking steps to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

According to the Sun, the caption was written by the photographer, identified on the paper’s website as Steve Bosch, and was never intended to be published.

Munro said the offending excerpt in brackets was only intended to help a staff member identify Subban before the image was uploaded.

“Those instructions were not intended to be published, but someone in haste published that as part of a photo gallery that went up,” he said.

“People want to get this information up quickly and sometimes they take shortcuts that they shouldn’t be taking, and those are the things we need to correct.”

The Sun hasn’t identified who was responsible for publishing the caption, but said it is investigating.

Munro said the paper will decide on any potential punishments after the circumstances are confirmed and reviewed.