A pair of Vancouver Canucks fans selling “Free Torts” t-shirts supporting the team’s suspended coach have been ordered to stop their operation.
The NHL suspended head coach John Tortorella for 15 days – or six games – for taking an on-ice dispute to the opponents’ locker room on Saturday.
Self-described superfan Treven LePage and a friend were selling the shirts online at freetorts.com, but received a call from the organization Thursday to stop selling them.
The shirts bear the likeness of a yelling John Tortorella pointing a finger and reads "FREE TORTS."
“We sold then as far down as Georgia and as far east as Prince Edward Island,” said Lepage. “We're not trying to go big time. We're just having some fun."
The Canucks say they appreciate LePage’s passion for Tortorella, but don’t want Canucks’ images being used to generate profit – regardless of the sentiment behind the idea.
“It's absolutely great when the community gets behind the team. It's the kind of thing that can start traditions like the playoff towels. We love this gentleman's passion but … we unfortunately had to ask him to stop,” Trent Carroll, Canucks Executive VP, said in a statement emailed to CTV News.
At $20 each, less than 100 “Free Torts” t-shirts were sold, and the makers say they weren’t making any profit.
LePage says they’ll honour the cease order, but he may have a workaround.
“We might make a “Free Torts” shirt with a cake on it. See how that goes,” he said.
