Defenseman Releases Statement After Recent Controversy

A defenseman has gotten into a major controversy recently and has released his statement.

Yesterday, the Vancouver Canucks announced the new jersey numbers for their free agent signings.

While this does not seem like much, Ian Cole faced a large amount of backlash for choosing the number 28, a number previously worn by Luc Bourdon.

Bourdon tragically passed away in a motor cycle accident at the age of 21 before his NHL career ever fully got under way. Since then, no Canuck has worn 28 till Cole. He has had the number 28 unofficially retired.

Cole faced a large amount of backlash for this and released a statement today.

Ian Cole has addressed the controversy and released this statement.

Changing his number from 28 to 82 was the right move to make to honor Bourdon and respect his legacy. This will be the first time Cole has worn a number other than 28 since he was a child.

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