‘Kids were traumatized’: N.S. minor hockey coach charged for allegedly punching referee
A minor hockey coach in Nova Scotia has been charged with assault after an on-ice incident during a game this weekend in front of players and fans.
“These kids were traumatized. Walking out of the rink, there were tears, fear in the faces of the kids,” said Melissa Johnson, who witnessed the event.
“It was heartbreaking,”
Johnson, as well as some others who witnessed the incident, have posted about it on social media.
The morning game on Saturday at the Don Henderson Memorial Sportsplex in Brookfield, N.S., was a U11 game — meaning the players were aged nine and 10.
Johnson said she was in the rink at the time waiting for her own son’s game to start. In the meantime, she caught the game between Cumberland and Brookfield.
She said during the second period, there was a hit that resulted in a five-minute major penalty. At one point, a cowbell was thrown onto the ice, and she said she saw the referee toss the cowbell toward the Brookfield bench.
“Unfortunately, it hit the coach who took it upon himself to walk over to the Amherst bench (…) and grabbed the ref and started punching him,” she said.
Johnson said the referee was punched on the helmet.
Johnson said at this point, a spectator came down off the bleachers and allegedly attacked the referee as well, which left the young hockey players on the team “trapped inside their bench” and “in tears, hysterical about everything that had happened.”
“We had parents climbing over the ice, over the glass, over the railings, everything in order to ensure that the fight was stopped and then trying to get these kids to safety into their dressing rooms,” she said.
Vanessa Craven, whose son plays for Amherst, said she rushed down to the team’s bench in the commotion to help comfort the
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