The University of Windsor is playing defence following allegations of mental and verbal abuse.
Those accusations involve Deanna Iwanicka, the head coach of the university's women's hockey team.
Iwanicka just completed her first year with the Lancers after a 10-year stint at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology where she earned coach of the year honours twice and guided the Ooks to three consecutive conference titles.
In Windsor, however, the women's hockey team managed only one victory in 23 games this season and five players have stepped forward with complaints against Iwanicka.
Krystin Lawrence is one of those players and tells CTV Windsor she filed an official complaint with the university a week ago but the problems started long before that.
"She [Iwanicka] told me I had to fix some things so I worked in practice all week to fix them and then I improved in the games, but at the end of the day nothing was ever good enough so I pretty much had enough. I couldn't deal with it, and then I got hurt so it was a blessing in disguise," she says.
Lawrence left the women's hockey team in October but attended games and stayed in touch with teammates and claims the problems continued.
"Then two staff quit, two players quit, we're going into January, February and no one's having fun, no one's enjoying the game anymore," says Lawrence.
Retired University of Windsor professor Marge Holman confirms she has talked to players who allege verbal and mental abuse from Iwanicka and says the situation is apparently not unique to Windsor.
Both Lawrence and Holman confirm they have been contacted by players from Alberta who played for Iwanicka and claim the same verbal and mental abuse.
"The story began not too long ago when two athletes came in to see me and expressed their concerns with their experience with women's hockey," says Holman. "Certainly can't take sides, but I listened to their complaints and I validated that I really felt that they did have a legitimate concern that was worthy of sharing with the appropriate authorities."
The university has appointed an outside investigator to look into matter and has no comment on the process because it is deemed confidential.
CTV Windsor reached out to Iwanicka but calls were not returned.