A Bathurst high school is facing a controversy over a risqué performance at their talent show last week by five members of the school’s hockey team.

Five members of Ecole Secondaire Nepisiguit's hockey team performed a sexually suggestive dance at a school talent show.

At the end of the act, the teens tore off their pants and danced provocatively in their underwear. All five boys were suspended for one day but three were still allowed to play in the school's hockey game the following evening.

The boys were suspended but it's how the administration handled the punishment that has some people questioning whether the teens received special treatment because they play hockey.

One school teacher, who declined to be interviewed on camera, said allowing the players on the ice sends a mixed signal to other students. The teacher said the school's decison suggests that hockey is more important than following the rules.

Paul Thibodeau, the school’s principal, said the dance did not conform to “our school values” and so the teens had to be disciplined.

But the principal said the punishment for the teens was fair.

“We think what was given was fair for what was done. And I think that the whole hockey team shouldn't have to be held accountable for what a couple of students did during the school day,” he said.

The move by the school's administrators to delay the punishment for three players had a direct outcome on the team's season.

The suspension would have meant the hockey team would have to forfeit the following night's game. And due to league rules would not be allowed into the playoffs.

The suspension didn’t appear to have rattled the hockey team at all. The team won their game 5-1 on Friday night and is now in the playoffs.