Northern Ont. hockey association raises alarm about parents behaving badly

The Northern Ontario Hockey Association says concerning parent behaviour, including threats to referees, is damaging minor hockey.

In a hockey game, referees watch for goals, penalties and player injuries. But the Northern Ontario Hockey Association says off-ice issues involving parents are a major problem for their on-ice officials.

NOHA president Steve Lawrence issued an open letter this week in which he pointed to several recent incidents he said are unacceptable.

“I am writing to you today with profound disappointment and serious concern regarding reports of parent behaviour from this past weekend that have absolutely no place in our game,” Lawrence wrote.

The incidents include a parent making a throat-slashing gesture toward an on-ice official, parents yelling abusive comments at opposing players and one hockey dad caught on video instructing players how to intentionally injure an opposing player.

“These are not isolated lapses in judgment,” Lawrence wrote.

“These are deliberate actions that undermine everything we stand for in minor hockey. They create unsafe environments for our children, drive away Officials we desperately need, and poison the culture of respect and sportsmanship that should define our game.”

Grant Love, officiating program coordinator with the NOHA, said the problems have gotten out of hand.

“We’ve had instances where the person is waiting in the parking lot for them or waiting outside the dressing room for them,” Love said.

“We’ve always had challenges, you know, involving behaviour in the rinks,” added NOHA executive director Jason Marchand.

“But this is the first year that we’ve actually tracked it. We’re working with three organizations across northern Ontario on a pilot that essentially tracks the behaviours.”

Parents have been warned, officials said, but the NOHA is still seeing some concerning behaviour.

“It’s disappointing that we do see that, it’s obviously heightened because it’s minor hockey and kind of that recent history there,” Marchand said.

“From our end, we just need to continue to keep educating on expectations and then handle, in an appropriate manner, the cases that do come across.”

Officials are working to ensure everyone knows that this “type of behavior won’t be accepted,” he added.

Eric Caetano, a referee and a supervisor with the Greater Sudbury Hockey Officials Association, told CTV News that just one case of ref abuse is one too many.

“They do and can happen, but they’re pretty infrequent,” he said.

“Unfortunately, at the more grassroots level where people feel their opinion can be heard more and expressed, it does happen from time to time.”

Caetano said he hopes to see reminders to hockey fans that green bands around referees’ arms indicate they are children.

“In northern Ontario, we implemented a green armband initiative where fellow officials who are 18 years of age or younger must wear a green armband, which identifies them to players, coaches, parents, they’re young,” he said.

NOHA said lifetime bans and permanent removals may be necessary because the bad behaviour is damaging the experience for the children who play -- and threatens the future of hockey in northern Ontario.

“There have been young officials (who) have walked away because they’re saying they don’t want to be emotionally or mentally abused,” Love said.

“We’ve also had some adults who have said, you know what? I come out here to try and give something back to the game that I enjoy and I love, but I’m not going to come out here and get yelled at and screamed at.”

Marchand said they have also received complaints regarding the lack of supervision of children at hotels, violating the hotel and NOHA policies.

“When teams travel to represent their communities, they are ambassadors for their associations and for northern Ontario hockey,” Lawrence said in his statement.

“Unsupervised children causing damage, disturbing other guests, and violating hotel policies reflect poorly on all of us and jeopardise our ability to host tournaments and events across our region.”

Marchand hopes the statement will help parents adjust their behaviour.

For his part, Lawrence finished the letter by sounding the alarm that if the bad behaviour continues, parents “are damaging the experience for every child in that arena and threatening the future of hockey in northern Ontario.”