KITCHENER -- Alliance Hockey is investigating a fight that happened Sunday between two minor bantam teams.
The Waterloo Wolves and Brantford 99ers were playing at a rink in Brantford, Ont. when a fight broke out on the ice between players.
Cellphone video of the incident was sent around to parents, and the father of one of the Waterloo Wolves players says he was so upset with how it was handled he decided to share it online.
The video, which is only 35 seconds long, involves several players from both teams.
Tim Taylor says he saw four players from the Brantford team hitting a Waterloo player on the ground.
But what he’s most upset with is the behaviour of the coaches, parents and spectators.
“Right after the play you can see the players go to the bench and the coaches are high-fiving them and tapping them on the head and saying ‘Good job’,” says Taylor. “You can hear constant yells and screams from the parents, who were excited by the antics. I was thinking what kind of nonsense is this? This is ridiculous.”
All of the players are between the ages of 13 and 14 years old.
Tony Martindale, the executive director of Alliance Hockey says four players have been suspended.
Two of them play for the Wolves while the other two play for the 99ers.
Martindale says two-game suspensions were given to two of the players, while the other two got five-game suspensions.
Alliance Hockey is investigating the incident to determine if those penalties were the right call and if any further action is warranted.
“There’s a rule that you can’t fight in minor hockey,” says Martindale. “If you do fight the suspensions should be severe.”
Alliance Hockey will now be looking at the behaviour of everyone involved – including players, referees, coaches and even parents in the stands.
“They are all participants, even if you’re a fan or a parent watching the game. We consider that a participant and how does their conduct affect the game?”
Martindale says they’ll be looking at the reports from referees and the association to determine the next steps.
“There are obviously teachable moments here for the players and coaches and parents of players. We need to make sure that we take advantage of those teachable moments so these types of things don’t happen again.”
Taylor says he and his wife were so upset with the response to the fight that they’re considering removing their boys from the team.