When a Toronto teen lifted his stick and took a baseball-like swing at an opponent's leg during a minor hockey tournament in January, it was only the warm-up act.

Enraged by the resulting penalty for slashing, the 16-year-old turned his temper at the referee in the kind of anti-authoritarian outburst that has many officials concerned for the game and, in some cases, their own safety.

The player spun around, skated at the official and "cross-checked him in the chest," says a Greater Toronto Hockey League report on the incident. "(It was an) attempt to injure."

The Star gained exclusive access to 122 such reports into the GTHL's most serious on-ice incidents last year.

They revealed a disturbing pattern of growing racism, hits to the head and referee abuse.

Like many aggressors penalized for abusing officials, the player who cross-checked the referee had a long record of misdeeds.

Since 2002, the player had accumulated 18 major penalties, including six for checking from behind, two for checks to the head and two for disputing the call of an official.

He was given a seven-game suspension for the cross-check.

"What I see today is a lack of respect for the game, for players and no respect for the referees," says Stan Butler, a coach currently with the Ontario Hockey League's Brampton Battalion. He spent decades in the GTHL, junior hockey and with Team Canada Juniors.

"In the GTHL, I see kids getting into tussles with linesmen. I see kids disputing with the referees and slamming their sticks. ... It's disgusting."

There were more than 1,100 major penalties assessed in the GTHL last season for varying degrees of outbursts against officials.

That's an instance every 10 games.

There was an increased incidence last season of several serious penalties dealing with official abuse.

There were 226 calls for "harassment of an official/unsportsmanlike conduct" – up from 65.

The league conducted six investigations last season into "threatening an official" incidents, up from two the year before.

Add to that a dozen calls of "physical abuse of an official," 200 "verbal abuse" of officials, and more than 650 cases of disputing officials' calls.

At least some of those problems have nothing to do with hockey, says GTHL president John Gardner. The ice is merely the forum where deeper social problems play out, including troubles at home and frustration at school.

"Hockey provided the stage where the spark ignited," Garner says.

Others believe hero worship of rough-and-tumble NHL players inspires disrespect for officials.

"Patterns do form from the way the pro game is played," says Brian Coles, chief referee for the GTHL. "All these kids want to be at the pro level. It is monkey see, monkey do."

In a survey done the league of 62 of the league's top under-17 players last year, all but 12 said they fashion their play after the pros.

Youthful defiance could also be an expression of on-ice anxiety. Asked if there's too much pressure placed on young hockey players, about half the respondents answered yes.

Among the listed causes were "parents with unrealistic expectations"; "coach telling you need to perform for the scouts," agents and getting drafted into the Ontario Hockey League.

Nearly half of respondents said they had endured intimidation tactics including "verbal attacks," "physical intimidation," "trash talking" and "chirping."

"They all want to go to the NHL," said Pat Flatley, who coaches the GTHL's minor peewee AAA Toronto Young Nationals after a 14-year career in the NHL.

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The pressure to get there, often intensified by coaches and parents, can set the stage for on-ice explosions, he says.

"The kids feel that pain but then it's the coaches (in the dressing room) and the parents in the car." When things go wrong, says Flatley, there is a deeply held tradition in hockey: Blame someone else.

"It's not the refs. Some nights, you just need to look in the mirror."

Still, the refs are often scapegoats.

During a November 2008 game of 15-year-olds, officials broke up a fight between two players.

One player "began to swing his fists at me and in the process hit me once in the chin, once in the helmet as he tried to break free to start another fight," says a league investigation report.

"There was a clear attempt by (the player) ... to hit me out of the way as to instigate another encounter with the opposing player."

The fist thrower had seven major penalties between 2005 and 2008, including two game ejections and five for checking from behind.

"We get what we tolerate," says Paul Dennis, who worked for the Toronto Maple Leafs in player development for two decades and is now a sports psychologist teaching at the University of Toronto and York University.

"The penalties are clearly not severe enough and, therefore, we've built up this crescendo of players losing it (their self-control) because they're allowed to."

Like Gardner, he says there are social factors beyond the rink that prompt such misconduct.

"We're in a downward spiral with some of these children. It started somewhere before it got to this abhorrent behaviour on the ice. It started with parents, teachers, coaches. But as long as we continue not to stop it, it's going to fester."

Officials aren't the sole targets of on-ice rage.

League records show numerous attempts by players to injure opponents.

rcribb@thestar.ca