Night after night at the hockey rink, 15-year-old Cory Bertrand is taking the brunt of the anger from fired up hockey parents in Norwich.

A penalty call that doesn’t go their way can mean a whole lot of yelling at the teenager in a ref’s uniform.

“A lot of times when you make a call, they don’t like it, so they start yelling. It’s pretty much if their team gets a penalty, they’ll yell,” Bertrand said.

He’s even had parents swear at him from the stands.

“After a few minutes, they calm down.”

The behaviour of minor hockey parents has been a hot topic lately, and it’s no wonder. In many cases, hockey moms and dads are out of control.

“A lot of parents believe that because the officials we have are paid, they’re allowed to yell and scream at them,” said Chris Parker, local league referee-in-chief for the Tillsonburg Minor Hockey Inc.

Sometimes they even make personal comments about a referee’s looks.

“You have young officials that are still kids themselves,” he said.

“It makes it really hard to sit and watch a hockey game.”

The good news is that many of the region’s minor hockey associations are dealing with parents that are calm and reasonable, at least for the most part.

“I’ve never seen anybody thrown out of the arena at a game. I’ve never witnessed that. I’ve only been on the board for a year, but we haven’t dealt with a single complaint,” said Sheri Karelson, vice-president of the Woodstock Wildcats Girls Hockey Association.

That’s not to say everything is perfect. Out-of-control parents can still be found in Oxford County.

One factor in particular helps predict parent behaviour, said Greg Bryant, president of the Ingersoll and District Minor Hockey Association.

“I find success brings happiness,” he said. “When you’re unsuccessful, it doesn’t bring the best of people out, and we’ve seen that in the past.”

Other local hockey associations are seeing the same correlation.

In the Norwich Minor Hockey Association, it’s not uncommon for parents to overreact to a loss, said president Kevin Bertrand.

“Some people are very loud and obnoxious. If your kid’s losing, the parents get upset,” he said.

He thinks the dissatisfaction can be a motivator if handled correctly.

“Nobody wants to lose, which is good. If you’re satisfied with losing, what are you doing?” Bertrand asked.

But that drive and competitive spirit is boiling over.

“I’ve seen parents fighting, police showing up at arenas,” Bertrand said.

Moms and dads should know their kids are taking it all in.

“Their kids see their actions up in the stands. I think it actually creates a lack of respect from their kids to the authority figure that is a referee. I think it might actually translate across the board to other things, like with teachers and things like that. They think it’s alright to talk back and yell and scream when they don’t get their way,” said Parker, who is also a referee himself.

An increase in bad hockey parent behaviour forced national and provincial bodies to make a change.

Hockey Canada mandates a course for coaches. One option is the Respect in Sport course for Activity Leaders, part of the Respect Group organization founded by former NHL-er Sheldon Kennedy.

Mark Allen, Ontario director for Respect Group Inc., said it was actually coaches pushing for a parent-focused version of the program.

“A lot of minor sports in Canada are struggling to retain, officials, coaches, and volunteers, and even a lot of players are questioning. The most common reason they cite for leaving – any group – is the behaviour of some parents,” said Allen.

Parker said the Tillsonburg league loses a couple of refs each year, folks who simply don’t want to deal with parents screaming at them from the stands.

Beginning this hockey season, the Ontario Minor Hockey Association requires at least one parent in every family to complete the Respect in Sport course online.

“The program is really designed to help good parents become better sport parents,” said Allen.

It also discusses bystander intervention. It’s just as important for parents to shut down bullies at it is for kids on the schoolyard, Allen said.

Parker isn’t so sure the course has helped.

“I don’t think it had the overall impact that it should have,” he said. “There are some parents that are that way, and they will always be that way.”

But Allen said early adopters of the program, like Hockey Calgary, which made Respect in Sport mandatory in 2010, have seen great success. They’ve seen fewer incidents, complaints and disciplinary measures.

In Ingersoll, executives appreciate that the course lays out uniform requirements for parents of all teams and age brackets.

“It just kind of sets a standard where we can have a rule to fall on should there be a misbehaviour or a broken rule in the constitution,” said Bryant.

Parents are just so passionate about the game, their energy can get out of control, hockey leaders said.

“Some parents just get really caught up in the game, they’re sort of living vicariously through their children,” explained Allen.

Bryant isn’t so sure that this sort of competitive spirit – and to a degree, its consequences – can be tamed.

“I just don’t know if that will ever go away. There’s such a passion for it, it’s such a loved game. It’s Canada’s game.”

megan.stacey@sunmedia.ca