NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Islanders hired Stanley Cup winner Pascal Dupuis as director of player development, the team announced Tuesday.
Dupuis, 47, spent the past three seasons in the front office for the Shawinigan Cataractes in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and has been with the team in various capacities the past six years since becoming a co-owner.
“Pascal is exactly the kind of person we want shaping the next generation of Islanders,” general manager Mathieu Darche said. “Pascal’s perspective will be invaluable for our developing players who are trying to find their way to the Islanders. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome him to the organization.”
Dupuis played 15 years in the NHL and was part of Pittsburgh’s title team in 2009.
“His story is one every young player in our system can learn from as nothing was handed to him,” Darche said. “He was undrafted, found his way to the NHL through his tireless work ethic and built a career playing over 800 NHL games."
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FILE - Pittsburgh Penguins' Pascal Dupuis (9) skates during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens Nov. 11, 2015, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Eight protesters accused by the Justice Department of having ties to antifa were sentenced Tuesday to decades in federal prison over a shooting outside a Texas immigration detention center that wounded a police officer and prosecutors called an act of terrorism.
One of the defendants, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist convicted of opening fire during the July 4 demonstration outside the Prairieland Detention Center near Dallas, was sentenced to 100 years in prison, the maximum punishment.
The lengthy sentences were condemned by family members and supporters in a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Fort Worth. Hope Song, whose son Benjamin Song received the heftiest sentence, disputed prosecutors' claims that her son shot the officer and said he didn't intend to hurt anyone.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, one of two judges overseeing the proceedings, said what happened wasn’t a protest but “an assault on democracy.”
“The need to deter this type of conduct is high,” O’Connor said.
The seven other protesters received prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years.
Prosecutors said the eight are members of antifa, a decentralized anti-fascist organization and a target of the Trump administration. Antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.
President Donald Trump last fall signed an executive order designating antifa a domestic terrorist organization, even though there is no domestic equivalent to the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations.
The defendants deny any affiliation with antifa and maintain they attended the demonstration in support of detained immigrants.
Prosecutor Frank Gatto urged the judge to impose stiff penalties.
“People with that kind of extremist beliefs need extra time in prison,” Gatto said. “They believe violence is justified.”
Phillip Hayes, Song’s attorney, said outside the courthouse that he takes issue with the idea that the protesters are extremists.
"This is a bunch of kids and young adults who really have a really big heart and really wanted their voice to be heard,” Hayes said. “It was never intended that anybody get hurt. It was never intended that any shots would be fired.”
Prosecutors said in court that Song had yelled “get to the rifles” and opened fire, striking a police officer who had just pulled up to the center.
Hayes argued that Song’s shots were “suppressive fire” and that a ricochet bullet hit the officer after he arrived on the scene and “aggressively” pulled out his firearm. He said his client will appeal the 100-year sentence.
“Song, aside from this day, has had an impeccable life. A former Marine. A good student,” Hayes said. “He had a lot of good qualities that were just ignored. The judge went ahead and gave as much as he could.”
Other defendants and their family members pleaded for leniency in court.
Autumn Hill said the gathering “seemed more like a party to me than anything else" and that she and others who participated "didn’t expect or want any violence or destruction of property to occur.”
Amber Lowrey told the judge that her sister, Savanna Batten, is a compassionate person with dreams of opening a bakery. She said Batten's activism started with animal rights and evolved into anti-war and human rights advocacy.
“She’s the best person I know,” Lowrey said.
Hill and Batten both received 50-year sentences.
Other defendants previously pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists rather than take their case to trial.
Critics warn the case could have wide-reaching impact on protests given that organizations operating within the U.S. are supposed to be protected by First Amendment free-speech rights.
Last week, federal prosecutors charged 15 people with impeding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. They claimed the demonstrators were members of antifa who conspired against the federal government to block arrests and deportations by setting up blockades around government buildings and throwing chunks of ice at federal vehicles, among other actions.
Marcelo reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Kendria LaFleur contributed.
Supporters of protesters convicted over a shooting outside a Texas immigration detention center display signs in support of the defendants outside a federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Kendria LaFleur)
Supporters of protesters convicted over a shooting outside a Texas immigration detention center display signs in support of the defendants outside a federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Kendria LaFleur)
Supporters of protesters convicted over a shooting outside a Texas immigration detention center display signs in support of the defendants outside a federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Kendria LaFleur)
Supporters of protesters convicted over a shooting outside a Texas immigration detention center display signs in support of the defendants outside a federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Kendria LaFleur)
FILE - Officers with the Department of Homeland Security walk on the sidewalk outside the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse during a trial for people connected to a 2025 shooting outside an ICE detention facility, in Fort Worth, Texas, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
