Staals arrested over weekend
By JOE WARMINGTON -- Sun Media
Those were not hockey cards the famous Staal bothers were mugging for Saturday in Minnesota.
And the penalty box NHL stars Eric and Jordan Staal were sitting in had bars.
Move over Lindsay, Britney and Paris. The boys from Thunder Bay -- who both at one time played for the Peteborough Petes -- were making their own reality show. The only thing missing was the Bad Boys theme music from the TV show Cops.
Let's just say in Lutsen, Minn., pop. 1,200, they will not soon forget the day a Hurricane blew into town to party with a Penguin and a bunch of wild Canucks.
"Our jail had never been full before," laughs Darcy Ziller of the Cook County Sheriff's office in nearby Grand Marais.
But a bachelor party Friday for Carolina Hurricanes star Eric Staal, 22, in the resort town on Lake Superior, changed all that and landed the star a night in the slammer with nine of his friends and relatives.
WOMEN'S CELL
"We would have kept them all in for the night if we had room," Ziller said.
They considered putting Penguins rookie sensation Jordan Staal, 18, and three others in the women's cells but "since there was a woman in there," they decided to release him instead.
Needless to say the brothers, hockey royalty from Thunder Bay, will take some good-hearted ribbing at training camp this fall.
And perhaps even at the older Staal's wedding next Friday in the Lakehead.
It all started out innocently enough as a day of golf and an evening of partying at the posh Lutsen Resort and Sea Villas on Lake Superior. But as the sun fell and the beer flowed, things became a little rowdier among the 20 young men in attendance.
"It was a bunch of Canadian boys going wild," an employee at the resort, two hours south of Thunder Bay, joked last night. "It was a bachelor party that went awry."
Police reports were not as humorous, stating the men were "warned multiple times to be quiet or they may be removed from the property, issued citations, arrested, and/or deported from the country."
That was at 12:30 a.m.
At 3 a.m. Saturday, according to a police press release, "staff at Lutsen Resort and Sea Villas ordered the group to leave the property, as they were not obeying the warnings ... Cook County Sheriff's deputies, a Minnesota State Patrol trooper, and a United States Border Patrol agent assisted with the removal of the suspects."
At 4 a.m., "after leaving the property, the group gathered on Hwy. 61 and began harassing passing motorists," police allege.
"The suspects were placed under arrest for disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process. Some of the suspects fled in to the nearby woods."
Sounds like the only thing missing was the TV cameras.
In addition to Eric and Jordan Staal, also arrested were Jason Matthew Jaspers, 26, Brent Matthew Heerema, 23, John Eric Staal, 28, Luke Jonathan Heerema, 20, Daniel Robert Pella, 24, Neil Alexander Staal, 22, Paul William Voortman, 30, Gregory A Pettypiece, 24, Scott Allan Mol, 23, David M Wieringa, 27, Dane Charles Hatton, 23 and Ian Michael Staal, 23.
"Jason Jaspers, Brent Heerema, Jordan Staal, and John Staal were released shortly after booking," police said. "The other (detained) suspects were released the afternoon of (the next day)."
Jonathan Heerema and Jordan Staal are charged with "consumption of alcohol while under 21 years of age, in addition to disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process."
When daylight came, the arrested men were no longer disorderly and in fact quiet and co-operative.
"Canadians are always polite," Ziller joked.
At least when they are not intoxicated.
'EMBARRASSED'
Released on their own recognizance, the boys are back in Thunder Bay and getting ready for next week's wedding, which has 300 invites for the nuptials of two people from two big Dutch-Canadian families.
"They are a little embarrassed but they are all right," Eric Staal's fiance, Tanya Vandenbroeke, said last night.
"They didn't mean anything by it. It was all blown a little out of proportion. It was just a couple of guys having fun."
In fact, she said, "I spoke with Eric on the telephone after the police came the first time."
She was surprised it escalated to this level.
"They are not like that," she said of the Staals. "They are not idiots."
The bill at the resort was paid but an employee said so far no apology has been offered.
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Bachelor party gone bad
Bachelor party gone bad
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