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Niagara GM on sleepy Ho-Sang: "He is very upset and humbled by the whole thing."

It was the AM/PM after all.

By Dan Saraceni
Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

The news that Joshua Ho-Sang was sent home on the first day of Islanders camp for arriving late spawned a raft of comments, mainly references from Seinfeld about unlucky marathon runner Jean-Paul Jean-Paul and futile attempts at beating the Van Wyck Expressway.

But closer to the situation, even though he was in Ontario at the time, is Niagara Ice Dogs general manager Marty Williamson, who spoke to the Bullet News of Niagara about Ho-Sang's expulsion. Williamson received the call from the Islanders telling him that Ho-Sang was coming back, and talked about the inciting incident which was a simple case of over-sleeping.

"Garth Snow and Eric Cairns both gave me a call and let me know he slept in this morning and was being sent home," General Manager of the IceDogs Marty Williamson said before Friday night's exhibition game against the Oshawa Generals.

"The bottom line is he didn't show up on time and Josh has a track record. He has to be accountable for those kind of things. Everything else was exemplary. He did everything else well. He made a mistake and he has put himself in a position where he can't make mistakes," Williamson said.

Williamson has been Ho-Sang's GM since his November 2014 trade from Windsor to Niagara. Ho-Sang's history of transgressions comes up a few times in the article, but Williamson notes how much he's worked on being more mature.

I think Josh has made a lot of strides in the right direction. He has honestly worked on it. He is not perfect. He has some habits he needs to work on. He stays up too late playing video games and stuff like that. He sleeps through things and gets himself exhausted," Williamson said when describing some of Ho-Sang's issues.

Williamson does not specifically say if Ho-Sang was up late Thursday night trying to find the critical bug in NHL 16 that causes the Islanders to win the Stanley Cup, so we'll wait for further clarification on that matter.

Most importantly, Ho-Sang was upset and embarrassed by the episode, according to what Williamson was told by Cairns and Snow. Like any learning experience, it's painful, but ultimately shapes who you are.

We're all hoping Josh learns the right lessons from it.

"He is devastated. He is very upset and humbled by the whole thing. Embarrassed by it," Williamson said. "He is a good kid. I feel for Josh. He has to learn there are consequences for these types of actions. I think in the big picture, he will be a better man for it."

Now the next steps for Niagara, and Ho-Sang, seem simple enough.

"He is not being sent home because he can't skate or he can't play the game. He is great. He is being sent home for something he can control 100 per cent," Williamson said.

Ho-Sang appears to still have a place on the Islanders. It's just going to have to remain on pause for a little while longer.

Meanwhile, even people more than twice Ho-Sang's age sometimes need a nap.

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Thanks to friend of the blog and PPP writer elseldo for forwarding the story.

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