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This article was published 12/12/2011 (3215 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg hockey dad has been convicted of attacking a rival parent and harassing two others in an embarrassing display following his 12-year-old son's game.

Paul Buchanan shook his head in disbelief Monday after being found guilty of assault, uttering threats to kill and criminal harassment for the December 2009 incident, which has never been previously publicized.

"Am I facing jail time? All over a 12-year-old hockey game?" Buchanan said loudly in court following the verdict. "Thanks, thanks a lot," he added to nobody in particular.

Sentencing has been adjourned until early next year, although the Crown indicated it likely won't be seeking custody. Buchanan remains free on bail.

Provincial court Judge Robert Heinrichs scolded Buchanan for his conduct over a game that is supposed to be all about having fun. He said this shows how some parents take matters far too seriously and allow their own interests and emotions to ruin it for everyone else.

"(Buchanan's) behaviour spiralled out of control. His evidence on what happened that day is not accepted. The conduct was completely reckless on his part."

Crown and defence lawyers agreed on several facts of the case, including that Buchanan's son played for a Fort Garry minor hockey league team that had just won a league game against another team from the area. While the players were still in their dressing rooms, Buchanan got involved in a heated discussion with the father of a player on the losing team as they sat in the canteen area of an arena in St. Norbert.

According to several witnesses, Buchanan made a snide remark to the man about how poorly his losing team's defence had just played -- a comment the other parent took personally, as his son was a defenceman. The player in question had previously been on a team Buchanan coached, which prompted the boy's father to tell Buchanan he was glad his son was now on a different team where "we don't try to manipulate the kids."

The fight was on. Witnesses said Buchanan angrily shoved the man into a wall, shouting, "I'm going to (expletive) kill you, you're an (expletive)." Several other parents intervened, including a hockey mom who said Buchanan punched her in the breast. The woman also had a son who was previously coached by Buchanan and was playing on the losing team.

Buchanan was escorted out of the arena but was waiting outside when the initial victim came out for a cigarette. Witnesses said another melee ensued, with Buchanan ending up at the bottom of the pile. Later that night, a drunk-sounding Buchanan emailed the other parent, saying, "I'll hit you the next time, you weakling. I thought you were tough. Now I know. I'll be seeing you at your work very soon."

Buchanan also made more than a dozen phone calls to the woman who intervened in the attack, despite the fact she repeatedly told him to stop calling. The woman and her partner eventually called police when the phone wouldn't stop ringing well past midnight.

"He was ranting and raving, yelling and swearing," she told court.

Buchanan testified in his own defence and admitted he might have overreacted with the phone calls, saying he suffers from "social anxiety" and consumed a 12-pack of beer later that night, combined with some medication. But he claimed he was simply "humiliated" by what happened and "wanted to make things right." He denied initiating the fight at the arena, claiming he was extending a friendly greeting when the other parent verbally and physically attacked him for no reason.

Heinrichs rejected that version of events Monday, saying it didn't ring true and was clearly self-serving in the face of overwhelming evidence.

www.mikeoncrime.com