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Adult hockey coach trips teen player

David Pescovitz at 11:31 am Wed, Jun 27, 2012

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Here's a Vancouver, Canada hockey coach demonstrating good sportsmanship to young players! During the post game handshake, the coach tripped one of the opposing players. The 13-year-old broke his wrist. Police arrested the coach and charges are forthcoming. (Yahoo!, thanks Gabe Adiv!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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  • BrotherPower

    Christ, what an icehole.

    • http://www.facebook.com/dan.bailey Dan Bailey

       A fargin’ icehole!

      • Navin_Johnson

        Cork soaking bastage!

        • http://www.youtube.com/user/ziccup akbar56

          sonamabitch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjcT4Qt8aI0

    • howaboutthisdangit

      Icy what you did there.

      • Efemmeral

        That was cold.

      • jimh

        I thawed it was pretty funny.

      • Efemmeral

        I bet he skates on the charges.

    • benhammondmusic

      What the puck was that all about?!

  • http://www.facebook.com/roytruax Roy Edward Truax

    Could have tried to be discreet about it… 

  • fuzzyfuzzyfungus

    I bet that he is a laugh and a half when drunk. Small, portly, and something to prove…

    • http://www.doggo.org doggo

      Hey! Hey!! Whoo… you callin’ “shomethin’ ta prove”? 

  • dbergen

    Weird, you could tell EXACTLY which guy was about to do it too.

    • faithnomore

      Yeah. From the moment he comes into the frame, you can tell he’s got a bead on that kid. He doesn’t look at any of the other players, barely pretends to shake hands, and just barrels forward toward his target.

      Pathetic loser.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/GA34PWG2A623DWPC3DSPJHCBBM Jennifer

         What’s ironic is that if you read the news stories about the incident, this is the coach of the winning team.  Talk about poor sportsmanship.

  • http://www.thatgamerhub.com/author/moofey Adam Advocaat

    Ban his ass for life.

    • Judas Peckerwood

      After he gets out of prison.

  • Stephen Urquhart

    Adult? Maybe in chronological age.

  • styrofoam

    According to the followup stories I could find, There were “minor injuries to the wrists and forearms”, which makes me think the kid didn’t break his wrist, thankfully.

    Coach is still a jerk, kid is better off than I’d feared.

    • Jerril

       The kind of injuries you can get when falling face first on ice and catching yourself on your palm-heels are actually pretty nasty. Or the ones you can get when you don’t catch yourself and land chin first.

      But, normally you fall because you’re wearing shoes or boots and slipped, not because some ass tripped you. Coach is a big jerk, whether the kid got lucky or not.

      • styrofoam

        My intention wasn’t to minimize the severity of the event, or its potential-  just to hopefully put a few minds at ease, and clean up the facts a little bit.

    • David Pescovitz

      According to the latest report I could find, his wrist is broken and he’s wearing a cast.

      http://www.theprovince.com/news/canada/parents+outraged+after+opposing+hockey+coach+trips+player/6849629/story.html

      • styrofoam

        All I could find was ““To brace himself from hitting the ice, he [the player] put both his
        wrists out and sustained minor injuries to his forearm and wrists,” Sgt. Gidda said in an interview.”

        That seems to contraindicate, unless Canadians are just so friggin’ tough that broken wrists are an every day occurrence.

        Well, there went that glimmer of hope.  Sorry, kid.

        • pKp

          In ice hockey ? You bet they are.

        • Plut0

          Could you point me to the definition of minor injury? In the UK at least  fractures are considered minor injuries, as long as no hospital admission is necessary. 

  • Navin_Johnson

    Another article says there’s footage of him flipping off the jeering crowd afterwards.  Wow.

  • bo1n6bo1n6

    Tell that hoser to piss off.

    • BombBlastLightingWaltz

      Or ‘Take Off’ even…

  • http://www.edmstudio.com futnuh

    This is my home rink. I heard the story first-hand that same evening and from the scorekeeper sitting in the box opposite – he told me about it while, ironically, I was serving a penalty. Not shown in this video is the ensuing brawl between coaches, and the police taking coach douchebag away in cuffs. I have no idea what had the coach so riled up.

    • Jerril

      I’m sort of filing it under my thesis statement, “People are dumb.” In that whatever reason, it can’t possibly be a good one.

    • IronEdithKidd

      This is pretty extraordinary, even by hockey standards.  (I say that as an adult rec player.)  What an evil bastard. 

    • Grahamers2002

      “I heard the story first-hand.”  This is how religions get started.

  • http://twitter.com/jimmyjone Jimmy Jone

    Am I really the only one who thinks this was an honest accident?  The kid who fell is not in line with the rest of his team–he’s a little more to the right

    • Plut0

      nopes, look at the legs of the coach when he is walking. He has a steady phase and does not slide. Just before he is going to trip the kid, he puts his left foot down ans slides a bit, while lifting his right foot. He also stabilizes himself differently before he tackles the kid. 

    • darkjayson

       Just looked at it a few times and made it full screen, He stops and moves his leg into position, if it was an accident it would have tripped as well  but after catching his leg he pushes it hard take a close look, what is interesting is I don’t think he was aiming for that small kid but the larger one behind him as there legs where very close.  Wonder if one of them is the best teams player or something.

    • Navin_Johnson

      In another article he claims he slipped.  Sure doesn’t look like it. Also note the accusing finger point at the kid afterward, as if to say “take that kid!”.

      • hymenopterid

        Yeah I can totally imagine him saying, “That’s what you get!” when he pointed that finger at the kid.  Real class act.

    • Mitchell Glaser

      Yes, you are the only one. And if there was the slightest chance it was an accident I really doubt the police would have cuffed the jerk and taken him to jail, m’kay?

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/OMHO6ER5QJE3SIZ35VAXIRCLYM Stephan

        Yes because as we know anyone who was ever cuffed by the police was guilty. Having said that: This guy is guilty.

        • Mitchell Glaser

          Oh yes, that’s what I was trying to say, that the police are always correct (sheesh).

    • jimh

      Yes you are the only one. The coach WINDS UP to trip the kid.

  • Steve Miller

    Coach will have to work harder if he wants to land that TSA job.

  • darkjayson

    Might ducks this is not

  • Hakuin

    TEAM SPORTS!

    BUILDS CHARACTER!

    • signsofrain

      This is more or lest what my post was gonna be. All these parents swooning over how organized sports teaches teamwork and sportsmanship and etc… yeah, no. The culture of organized kids sports is created by adults, so unless the entire league has excellent coaches/support staff your kid is gonna be exposed to a lot of assholery. If they have the tools to recognize adult assholery great, if they don’t they’ll be learning a lot of the wrong things. If you want your kid to be active take them hiking, biking, swimming play catch with them, invite them on your morning jogs… don’t outsource your parenting duties to some little league run by an overweight insurance broker who hates losing.

      • clarkie604

         I’ve been to tons of sports events with my kids and I have witnessed the occasional assholery, but the great majority of my and my kids experiences have been great displays of teamwork and sportsmanship.  The occasional assholery is always a good example of how not to be – and even very young players are smart enough to recognize assholery.

        And participation in sports is not outsourcing parenting.  I hope that my kids can learn from other good people and that I don’t have to hover over them every moment to make sure they are properly protected.  I’m really glad to have had great coaches that lend a hand in trying teaching my kids all sorts of great stuff. When we hike, bike and swim we have great fun and learn a lot.  They also have fun and learn some different stuff in sports.

      • Hakuin

         speaking of overweight, if sports for school age kids is supposed to create fitness then the biggest condemnation of the ubiquitous team sports model is the surging fat-assery of North Americans.  Team sports aren’t working, and it is a serious a  problem as the Waronsomedrugs Industry in terms of social damage.

  • Mark_Frauenfelder

    I like his menacing finger pointing, too. He’s a real specimen. Here’s the endless loop.

  • http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

    The coach richly deserves to be charged with assault.

  • xzzy

    Kids sports is a Big Fucking Deal. Parents and coaches invest absurd amounts of money and effort into trying to sculpt little kids into the next great athlete. Anyone who gets in the way becomes the target for huge amounts of abuse.

    The kid’s only crime may have been he is too good at hockey, and was seen as a threat by the coach. It could also be the kid took a run at the coach’s star player during the game. Or maybe it was just incidental contact. 

    It’s good this coach was arrested for it, and will hopefully see jail time and barred from coaching anymore. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg.. a lot more needs to happen to make junior sports the wholesome activity they’re advertised to be.

    • hymenopterid

      The kids just want to play.  Some of the best sports I played as a kid were games that we started ourselves with no adult supervision of any kind.  I remember sitting in a Pizza Hut and listening to these two dads, both as serious as a heart attack, discuss the ERAs of little league pitchers.  One pitcher they agreed was a real prospect.  They were essentially playing make-believe talent scouts.  It would have been cute if they were kids, but the fact that they are old enough to know better made it creepy and pathetic.  Stop trying to live life vicariously through your kids.  Stop treating youth sports as though it were the prelude to a lucrative career in sports, because statistically thats a lie.  Let the kids have fun.  There will be plenty of time for them to get careers and take themselves seriously.

  • James Chapman

    Holy Crap! That coach should be banned or barred for life that was blatant tripping of the player. 

    • hymenopterid

      Unfortunately the maximum sentence for tripping under Canadian Law is two minutes in the penalty box.

  • rtresco

    Coach is completely in the wrong and should be charged with assault – BUT, I am here to caution against our being judge, jury and executioner with these viral stories. Earlier this year or last year there was one in my neighborhood about a waitress who posted a receipt where she didn’t get a tip and the guy wrote to her to loose a few pounds. Obvious a-hole, right, like this coach. The follow-up story never reported was that the waitress had been extremely rude to the customers and ignored their portion requests, telling them they could stand to gain a few pounds. Even though this coach should know never to physically touch a kid – do we all not wonder what the kid did to provoke it, undeserved as it is? Could this kid be Vancouver’s largest a-hole kid? To gun for him like that, that coach must have been seriously ticked off – so much so that he lost all sense of right and wrong. Now that’s angry. Shame on the coach – but maybe one nasty little kid finally got something that had been coming to him a long time. Doesn’t make it right, but these internet stories are so lopsided, I have to question every single one.

    • Plut0

      That is a kid on the losing team.
      He is an adult, a coach, on the winning team.

    • jimh

      Nope, victim blaming.
      You don’t get to hurt kids and get away with it. Even if the kids are a-holes.

      • Snig

        Agreed.  Physically assaulting a-hole kids just teaches them that the ultimate way to be an a-hole is to become physically abusive to smaller individuals.  They will aspire to be a coach who trips kids. 

    • Antinous / Moderator

      Even though this coach should know never to physically touch a kid – do we all not wonder what the kid did to provoke it, undeserved as it is?

      No. Some of us don’t make shit up to defend bullies. That’s why our Comment Policy says:

      • Please don’t suggest that the victim “had it coming” in a civil liberties/human rights thread unless you have some evidence to support your claim.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cooper-DiBiase/100000445446098 Cooper DiBiase

        Is there not a distinction between understanding the (possible) motive of a perpetrator and considering them justifiable, however?

        Re: “having evidence” — would rtresco’s comment be considered kosher if he could cite actual assholery on the part of the player, and if not what would be considered support for the claim?*  If there’s boilerplate concerning this I apologize for not having reviewed it myself.

        *In a general sense, that is.  I don’t know whether one can ever support the claim that a child provoked an adult to assault him.

  • mccrum

    No unicorn chaser, so I’m supplying this Good Sportsmanship chaser, pick the one you want instead from all these positive examples:
    https://encrypted.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&gs_mss=athele%20h&tok=mwie6gmvnIOuFscwi-PzWg&cp=13&gs_id=uo&xhr=t&q=athlete+helps+fallen+competitor&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=athele+helps+&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=3f0cdd0a169601dc&biw=649&bih=291

  • spacemunky

    Sweep the leg, Johnny. Cobra Kai!

  • Chentzilla

    Police arrested the coach and charges are forthcoming. Yahoo!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Gunner-Miller/100000140006929 Gunner Miller

    On another article he flipped off the opposing crowd and his team taunted them…it looks like his version of sportsmanship is infecting his team. I’m surprised they did not get comments from parents of his team.

  • Robert

    About 30 years ago, I was at a summer camp where we played baseball against another camp. We won, and we went through the slap-me-five line. Some kid on the other team tripped me deliberately. I wonder if this is him? ;)

    • OoerictoO

      used to happen all the time in the sports i played in high school.  but kid, on kid, is totally different.  and i was a total prick in high-school, just like most of my contemporaries. adults know better. not that you were implying otherwise.  that’s why they force you to do the good-sportsman type handshakes.

  • http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie

    I love it how parents are always wanting you to like organized sports as a child because it teaches you team work and discipline, but in truth many times it’s just an opportunity for pendejos to indulge in their primal violent urges.

    I’m with Carl Sagan. Most sports are nothing but sublimated tribal wars to keep our hunter-gatherer brain content.

  • The Hamster King

     This wasn’t rough play during a sporting event.  This was a calculated assault after the game was over.  Send his ass to jail.

  • Plut0

    It is not related to this incident, but your basically saying it is ok to break someones leg/bash someones head in/make someone crash intentionally, as long as it during a sporting event. You are not even confining it to the game, but expanding it to the whole event. It gets really easy to topple the best teams and players, just let one of your lowranking players take out the best players of your opponent. 
    Naturally, some things happen on accident, and when playing a sport you expose yourself to a certain risk, this should be taken into account. But when there are blatant violations of the rules of the game which endanger the other players, charges should be pressed.  

    In this case, the game was over, any fighting (if any at all and which is part of that game) should have stopped. 

  • darkjayson

     You have watched the video right?  How it was the after match hand shake,  How it was an adult coach that attacked, yes attacked a young teen player.

    Tell me how does doing something in a game make it so that people outside the game have a right to harm you?  If you commit a crime anywhere and get caught you get charged there is no out of line anywhere.  He should have not done anything never mind been discrete.

    This is simply hockey NO FIGHTING ALLOWED, only the following i got from the rules of ice hockey “A player can use a shoulder, hip or torso to hit or impede an opponent, but only when the opponent is in possession of the puck.” it does not say anywhere that the coaches can get involved.

    No, again violence is not the answer, for what he did he should have got arrested which he did that’s how a civilized society works.

    Your last comment shows exactly why your on this guys side.

  • styrofoam

     It looks like the kid was 13 during the game, which was in a 10-12 year league.

    The new story says the kid “may have been 12″ when the season started.

    I’m guessing that the coach was angry that this kid schooled his entire team, and felt that he was being shafted by the refs that let the kid play.

    I’m not condoning it, and I think the coach is a reprehensible asshole.   He probably felt justified at the time.

  • e smith

     So wait.. after game handshake which is where you are suppose to show goodwill towards the other team is fair game for an adult to assault a child?
    It well may have been that the kid he tripped was playing dirty, or not.. perhaps he was their star player and scored the winning goal against the asshole’s team, all we can do is judge what is on the tape, and from what is on the tape the guy deserved to be arrested. I am glad as hell I don’t live anywhere near you, I’d fear getting beat up in the middle of the night over some imagined pretext, keep your vigilante fantasies to yourself.

  • Mitchell Glaser

    Goodbye Mr. Guest.

  • Antinous / Moderator

    You know who else felt justified at the time?

  • styrofoam

    Maybe the coach was just following orders?

    Now that I see that the coach was on the winning team, I’m having an even harder time constructing a situation in which this guy would be so full of blind rage that this would even cross his mind, much less act upon it.

  • malindrome

    Taking out the opposing team’s best player might get his team into the hockey league finals.  It could be his finals solution.