New York Islanders forward Bo Horvat got himself into a little hot water over the weekend when he made some public comments about his former team that were pretty inflammatory in their nature.
After the Islanders picked up a much needed win in their hunt for a playoff spot on Saturday night, Horvat participated in a post-game interview in front of the fans at UBS Arena and it was then that he made the comments. Horvat took what seemed like an entirely unprompted shot at his former team and their fans after he was asked what came off as a relatively run of the mill question during a post game interview.
Question: How does this rank for you in playoff pushes, the excitement of this building and the fans’ involvement over the last couple of games?
“It’s been unbelievable,” answered Horvat before then taking an unprompted shot at the Canucks and their fans. “It’s a lot better than Vancouver I’ll tell you that for free.”
Horvat’s comments drew widespread attention and likely cost him more than a few fans in the city of Vancouver, and on Monday morning he addressed the issue when speaking with the media. Horvat claimed that he got a little caught up in the excitement of the moment and stressed that the comments came off worse than he intended, before apologizing for the comments altogether.
“I wasn’t obviously expecting that,” said Horvat when asked about the reaction to his comments this weekend. “It was kind of a heat of the moment thing. I didn’t mean any disrespect to the fans of Vancouver or my teammates or city of Vancouver at all. It wasn’t directed at them at all. The (Islanders) fans were all excited, and I was excited to be in a playoff push. It was just kind of one of those things where my emotions got the best of me. I was just really happy to be there to be honest with you. It might have come out the wrong way to a lot of people so I apologize for that. I’m just excited to be in the position right now, to be in a playoff push, to be right there. I really enjoyed my time in Vancouver, I’m not trying to disrespect them at all. I’m sorry if it offended anybody but l’m really happy to be in this position right now. I’m really happy to be here, and I just wanted to express that. It maybe, like I said, came out the wrong way to a lot of people.”
There’s no telling if Horvat’s apology will undo any of the damage those comments made to how he is perceived in the Vancouver market.