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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – A Massachusetts mother faces several criminal charges after allegedly assaulting two ice hockey officials following an MIAA boys varsity high school game.
The message to spectators following an alleged assault on two Massachusetts veteran hockey referees is simple –
“Please stop. Please stop. Let the players play, coaches coach, referees ref and just enjoy the game,” NIHOA spokesperson Mike Ober said. “Referees on the ice are human. Coaches are human. Players are human. They’re making mistakes.”
A high school hockey game at the Foxboro Sports Center on January 4 resulted in the police being called on a player’s mother who’s said to have assaulted the officials. Another Taunton man was thrown out of the same game for verbal abuse.
“In this specific instance, we had two very veteran officials knew how to handle themselves out there and were able to manage this incident,” Ober said. “That isn’t the case all the time.”
Ober, a spokesperson for the National Ice Hockey Officials Association, said these aggressive incidents are having a larger impact on youth sports in the state.
“We are desperately in need of new officials, in the sport of ice hockey. Again, all sports are facing the same issue, and it’s challenging to bring in good new young officials to what we’re doing into these ranks because the parents will see incidents like this,” Ober said. “And, as a parent myself, I’m not gonna let my kids go out and be subject to this.”
Now, Massachusetts lawmakers are taking action. Just this week, four bills addressing assault on sports officials have been renewed into the new legislative session.
“It’s a sad day when you need legislation to deter poor behavior in the stands,” Ober said. “And what these bills do is bring minimum punishments and minimum penalties for, assaults in potentially verbal assaults or aggravated verbal assaults on officials.”
The NIHOA wrote in a statement, verbal and physical incidents have no place in sports, and Ober said the hope is for spectators to sit back and enjoy the game.
“In the end it’s a risk to the sport. The average age of our officials is getting older and older. We’re not getting as many new officials coming in,” Ober said. “And it ultimately is a risk to the sport. Are we going to have enough officials in the future if this trend continues? And my answer is no.”
