That Guy

Hockey is known for its incredible athletes, their toughness, and ability to persevere all odds. It is also known for its infamous parents. It does not matter what sporting event you are at, there is always at least that one parent who has crossed the line from being supportive to borderline abusive. Parents of hockey players have been highlighted as some of the crazier ones. This was even highlighted in the popular TV series, Law and Order (Season 11 Episode 8 “Thin Ice”), where a parent murders a coach over their kids playing time and claims to have a mental defect called Sports Rage. Albeit fictitious, this “rage” is becoming all too common during children’s sporting events.

Being an overbearing parent is causing more issues than you may think. In a March 2019 press release from USA Hockey, they acknowledged that their number of officials is not growing enough to keep up with the rapid boom of numbers flowing into the sport, and that retention is one of their biggest concerns. A major factor in this statistic is parental behavior. Be it young or old, retaining officials is becoming increasingly difficult. Young officials may have a few bad experiences and decide that officiating is not for them. Experienced officials have had enough and decided that they no longer have the drive to be out on the ice anymore. It then becomes a cycle, parents drive the good officials out of the game through improper behavior, only to be replaced by inexperienced officials who are still learning to cope with higher levels and faster play. These officials then make mistakes, have a bad experience and decide to quit, and the cycle continues.

We all know great games typically come with great officiating. If you would like to have outstanding refs during any of our boys and girls hockey tournaments, we ask that you are supportive of everyone in the game, including those in the vertical stripes. We just ask, don’t be that guy (or gal).