Things that should never happen: Lakehead's Caria suspended for racial slur

I'd really prefer to not bring up a story like this - ideally because it would never happen - but it definitely caught my attention.

Long story short: Matt Caria of the Lakehead Thunderwolves has been suspended two games for a racial slur directed at Yashar Farmanara. This,  from tbnewswatch.com:

Caria, who leads the Lakehead Thunderwolves with 24 points in 17 games, was kicked out of Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the Mustangs after skating past the Western bench and having words with Farmanara, who is of Middle Eastern descent. The two were teammates on last year's University Games team.

Lakehead athletic director Tom Warden on Tuesday said the suspension was agreed to upon by the school, Ontario University Athletics and officials at Western.

“Incidents like this we obviously take very seriously,” Warden said, reached by phone. “It is our goal to deal with them swiftly and expediently. Matthew has been suspended for two games … and he has been asked to apologize to the player in question.

“He’s been asked to apologize to the administration at the University of Western Ontario. He’s been asked to apologize to the officials who were doing the game on the night of the incident, and he’s been asked to apologize to the program and his teammates.”

What else can you say? The fact this happened is ridiculous and he should absolutely be suspended. The fact they have been teammates before makes the situation curious to say the least, but doesn't take away from the seriousness of the issue. I can only hope that people would have come forward with this had it not happened right in front of the referee.

We've all been there in a sporting event where things get heated. Caria was pissed off that things weren't going well and lost his temper and reached for the worst thing he could think of. There's no "he's not that kind of guy" crap. It happened. I have no doubt Matt Caria is a good dude who lost his temper and said something he would gladly take back. The fact is, it happened and now he has to deal with what comes as a result. End of story.

What mystifies me, however, is when people make completely egregious remarks about any situation like this. For example, this comment from the article:

Swirly-Q says:
Why would anyone make light of this? This is horrible news for Thunder Bay and Lakehead.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME "SWIRLY-Q"?

I get that Thunder Bay is a small town that wants to protect its reputation. I also get that Lakehead also wants to look as clean as possible. Regardless of what Caria said, that commenter's insight is what happens when you put pure idiocy in a pot of boiling water and see what you have left after the process. You want to not solve a problem? Turn your back to it. Considering the type of punishments being laid down by The FA (English soccer's governing body) for similar incidents, this is a slap on the wrist.

It happened. Enforce the suspension. Don't let it happen again. The End.