BY WEB STAFF
sportsnet.ca

A series of Twitter posts by Dan Ellis complaining about his money woes has created an internet firestorm, eventually forcing the Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender to apologize.

Ellis originally "tweeted" that the 18 per cent escrow National Hockey League players are forced to surrender under the new CBA was causing him hardship. Ellis' first post read: "If you lost 18% of your income would you be happy? I can honestly say that I am more stressed about money now than when I was in college."

He followed that up with: "I can't explain it and I never thought it would be the case but it is true. $ in no way makes u more happy or makes life much easier."

According to the Bleacher Report, that caused followers to begin replying in a sarcastic fashion: "I have to get the 5 series BMW instead of the 6 series," read one. "Had to move into new house with only six bedrooms and three car garage," read another.

Ellis originally told followers, of which he has almost 12,000, to simply unfollow him if they didn't like the "tweets," but he later issued a full apology, acknowledging the power of social media.

"Kind of scary how much trouble 140 characters can create! Wow!," Ellis said in his latest "tweet." His two previous posts read, "I apologize to anyone that I may have offended. I drastically under estimated the power of twitter!" and "This has officially got way out of control. No harm or offense was ever intended in this twitter topic. Never again will I tweet on $".