Mounties are recommending assault charges be laid against a minor hockey coach who tripped a 13-year-old in the handshake line following a game Saturday, leaving the youth with a broken wrist.

It’s an incident one parent said started with a player’s celebration by the opposing team’s bench.

The coach’s response, allegedly, was to taunt the player every time the youth hit the ice.

Martin Tremblay has been suspended from the Vancouver Minor Hockey Association as a result, Dion DeMarco of the VMHA told the Province.

The suspension is pending a disciplinary hearing with Tremblay, who coached with the VMHA last season. It was his first year in the league, DeMarco said, but not his first year as a coach.

He inquired about coaching with the VMHA when his son was relegated to a different division of Vancouver Thunderbirds Minor Hockey Association, and all their coaching spots were filled.

DeMarco said they were in need of a coach for their 11- to 12-year-old boys, and a criminal records check as well as training from Hockey Canada was all in order. DeMarco added Tremblay’s year with VMHA was incident-free.

On Saturday, video shows Tremblay, coach of the Hornets in the UBC youth spring recreational league, tripping a 13-year-old player following a 5-4 win for his club in the handshake following the game.

“He coached for us but when he was doing this, he was on his free time,” DeMarco said. “This is a league run by the UBC and ultimately they’re the ones responsible for him coaching at that incident.”

One parent of the Richmond Steel, who did not want to be identified, said the incident started after the Steel player who was injured started to celebrate the opening goal.

“He was celebrating and he skated by the [opposing] bench and obviously, the coach said something to him because the player then turned around and gave him the finger,” the parent said.

“Every time that kid was on the ice, you could see the coach would be talking to him, trash talking him, basically,” added the parent.

“It was to the point where the kid was visibly upset on the bench.”

It was the final game of an eight-game regular season with playoffs in the three-team league, which was repeatedly heated between the two clubs.

The spring league isn’t sanctioned by Hockey Canada and UBC spokesperson Lucie McNeil said the facility doesn’t manage the coaches.

“We register the teams, we keep score, we hire the referee ... but the teams are independent,” McNeil said. “Our opinion is that by requiring the coaches to have minor hockey league experience for this kind of recreational league, up to this point we have felt it was sufficient due diligence.”

But Hockey Canada vice-president of hockey development Paul Carson said that requirement isn’t enough to absolve the league organizers of responsibility.

“There’s still a lot more that goes into creating a safe and positive environment for kids,” Carson added. “The private side of the game is very different.”

Carson declined to comment on the possibility of assault charges to Tremblay. DeMarco, however, was clear that the punishment needs to be firm.

“There has to be a strong message,” DeMarco said. “You’re the adult, you’re the one who has to maintain your cool.

“I have three kids of my own, I don’t want another adult touching my kid.”



— With files from Stephanie Ip

jgreen@theprovince.com

twitter.com/jgreengo



