Youth hockey referees are supposed to stop violence, but one official has been accused of hurting a player.
A 14-year-old suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the ice -- a direct result of contact with an official, according to the player's father. (The man, named Scott, refused to give reporters his last name to protect his son's identity.)
In a tie game over the weekend, the Minnesota bantam league goalie froze the puck and players started pushing. Two picked up penalties and Minneapolis TV station WCCO reports that while one of the players waited to enter the penalty box, the referee went back over to the 14-year-old and delivered a football style hit. "It looked to me like he got hit right under the chin," the father told WCCO.
As you would imagine, the teen's dad got pretty upset, and started yelling that the linesman had knocked his son over.
Ben Anderson, head coach of the youth hockey team, told WCCO he's never seen anything like this happen on the ice before. He pulled his team from the rink and wouldn't let them back on until the accused linesman was gone.
Instead, Anderson was suspended from coaching.
The father says his injured son will be out several weeks with a concussion from the contact with the referee.
"I’d like them (officials) to be suspended just like our coach was suspended. I’d like them to not take the ice the way my son can’t take the ice," Scott said.
The team has filed a grievance against the referee, meaning the incident will be decided by a disciplinary hearing. The coach will have his say at a hearing this weekend. A spokesperson for the bantam league did not have comment for WCCO.
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