Hockey New Brunswick Says Parents Need to Be Taught Respect

Minor hockey games across New Brunswick have become infamous for bare-knuckle brawls, name-calling and life-threatening intimidation. Yet, surprisingly, these hot-tempered acts of violence are not coming from the players – it’s the parents who are ready to beat the britches off each other.

Now, due to this surging onslaught of vicious behavior off the ice, Hockey New Brunswick is forcing all hockey parents to take part in a mandatory online educational course on respect towards others. Executive director of HNB, Brian Whitehead says that parents are coming to games prepared to get into knock-down-drag-out fights and it’s starting to get out of control.

"Mostly it's the verbal threats, to the point where people are challenging others, 'Let's go outside and settle this,' that type of behavior," said Whitehead. "It doesn't help with our recruitment initiatives if I were to bring someone to a hockey rink to say 'Hey why don't you try this sport,' and they see parents acting like that — it's not going to do well for us."

However, it’s not just parents wanting to duke it out with other parents; the coaches and referees have been taking their share of heat on the ice. Hockey official Rick Gaudet says it is obvious that the parents of these kids have officially lost their minds; many of them will gladly take on anyone that steps inside their savage path with broken bottles and wet rubber hoses.

"Some parents lose it, and it's sad to see, because, really, we're there for the kids, to enjoy the game," said Gaudet.

Hockey New Brunswick says that while it is unfortunate to have to go to such lengths to keep everyone from killing each other, they hope that by forcing at least one member of every hockey family to take the “respect” course, some of the lunacy will begin to subside and the kids can continue to have fun.