Mass. high schoolers in trouble for racism

Immediately following the Washington Capitals' win in game seven of its first-round series against the Boston Bruins, fans took to Twitter to express their frustration. 

But rather than tweeting "You suck, Joel Ward!" many went a different route.

An uglier route.

Ward is in an overwhelming minority among professional hockey players. He's black.

And hundreds (or more) Bruins fans took to Twitter to blast Ward for being black. Sports blog Deadspin compiled an ugly post titled "Here's How Racists On Twitter Reacted to Joel Ward’s Series-Winning Goal Against Boston" to show just how bad it was.

Credit to Ward for not getting upset by it. The next day, he told USA Today, "It doesn't faze me at all. We won, and we are moving on. ... People are going to say what they want to say." 

And while it's good and well that Ward is brushing it off, it's even better that some people are taking action. 

You see, some of those Twitter users are high school students at Gloucester (Mass.) High School. And Superintendent Richard Safier issued a statement saying that the students who were seen tweeting racist comments will "lose participation in a sport for a considerable length of time." 

Those with "leadership opportunities in extracurricular activities, or sports," are facing serious suspensions. 

While it's kind of odd to suspend kids from athletics for their actions off the field, it's a solid move by the school system to show these students the importance of sportsmanship and how ugly racism is. Applause all around for Safier and co.