Ferris hockey sophomore goaltender Roni Salmenkangas has been under a disciplinary suspension the last three games after he allegedly entered a woman’s apartment in the early morning hours of Sunday, Nov. 10.
According to the woman, Salmenkangas walked into her Oakwood apartment and made threats to kill the five subjects sleeping in her bedroom.
“[He] just went on and on about killing people,” said the Ferris senior, whose name is being kept anonymous to protect her privacy.
Among the things allegedly said was Salmenkangas accusing the woman’s sister — who was in the room — of killing his family. The woman said she and her sister did not know Salmenkangas prior to the incident and did not know he was a hockey player until he informed the deputies who questioned him.
The Mecosta County Sheriff’s department responded to the call from the woman’s sister — who was in town to visit for the weekend — and upon arriving removed Salmenkangas from the woman’s bedroom and questioned him in the apartment. The woman alleged that Salmenkangas admitted to drinking and being only 20 years old, but the deputies did not breathalyze him.
When the woman and her parents met with Roni the day after the incident, he claimed to have only drank six beers. The woman’s parents wanted her to press charges originally, but she elected not to and the incident is now being handled by the Ferris Office of Student Conduct. However, she does not believe the three-game suspension was enough punishment and believes he should have been suspended the entire remaining season.
The woman and her parents also had a meeting with head hockey coach Bob Daniels and Ferris Department of Public Safety Director Bruce Borkovich about the incident, and she made it clear she was not pressured to decline pressing charges. Borkovich declined to comment since the investigation by the Mecosta County Sheriff’s department is still ongoing.
The Ferris Athletics release was issued Friday, Nov. 15, the day Salmenkangas’ suspension began. Daniels was not available to comment. The statement reads in full below:
“Ferris State University hockey head coach Bob Daniels has announced a three-game suspension of student-athlete Roni Salmenkangas for non-hockey disciplinary reasons. The three-game suspension is effective starting with the team’s scheduled contest this evening [Friday, Nov. 15]. The FSU Athletics Department and the university will have no further comment on this matter.”
A suspension announcement by Daniels is not typical, and when Ferris News Services and Social Media Manager Sandy Gholston was asked why Daniels now issued a statement, he said “The university believed it was necessary to exercise transparency in having Athletics release this statement to the media.”
The Torch has submitted a Freedom of Information Act to obtain the police report but has yet to receive it. The deputies were not immediately available for comment on the arrest.
This is a developing story and will continue to be updated as the Torch obtains more information.