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At the bantam level, the rates of injury were identical.

Q: This obviously led to a very heated debate. How did it get to the point where the word moron got bandied about?

A: To be clear, it was never intended, nor was anybody ever called a moron. This was in a personal blog that was never intended for the public domain. Certainly once you put anything on the Internet today, it can leak into the hands of anybody.

Five months later, well after the debate was finalized [the ban was passed], somebody found the blog and decided to share it with minor hockey families. That’s what prompted my resignation; I didn’t want to see the board defend me.

Q: And you started writing your book shortly after?

A: It probably came about as a result of talking to close friends involved in hockey. At some point somebody said to me: ‘All that hard work, seven years, 30 hours per week in volunteer time. All of it’s going to be lost.’ That’s what prompted me to contact a publisher to see if I can’t pen my thoughts on the history of what’s happened. The book isn’t intended to be a rant or a feel-bad story. It’s a call to action on the adult behaviours that need to change.

Q: What are you hoping will come out of this book?

A: From my perspective, 95% of what happens in minor hockey is wonderful. At the end of the day there’s 5% that’s just so bad that we need to change that. Even from recent events, where we saw [YouTube video of] one of the Vancouver coaches tripping up a peewee player and being sentenced to 15 days in jail, to some of this absolutely ridiculous behaviour from parents in the stands.

Hockey is getting a bum rap: it’s common to hear this, I recently heard this from a mother after her child left hockey, [she said] ‘I’m glad that’s over. I don’t have to deal with hockey anymore.’

If we all get involved in the right capacity and get our attitudes in check and our behaviours in check, we can end this nonsense, like what’s on the YouTube video where people are behaving like, I guess, complete morons.

• This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

National Post

• Email: jgerson@nationalpost.com | Twitter: jengerson