A no-nonsense Quebec minor hockey coach who was tossed in the penalty box for assigning his team push-ups after a tough loss is speaking out for the first time.

Coach Louis Isabella was suspended for the rest of the season by the Lac St. Louis Hockey Association after parents said 11- and 12-year-olds on his AAA team were forced to do 100 to 350 push-ups after a 7-2 loss on Sept. 18. Parents reported that a few players missed school the next day because the workout was so painful.

The coach tells a different story. Isabella said its wasn’t the 7-2 win by the rival Dollard-des-Ormeaux AAA team that inspired the punishment, but rather the unsportsmanlike conduct of his players and their attitudes towards the assistant coaches behind the bench.

“I don’t care about winning or losing. It’s not about that at that age,” he told CTV Montreal. “You could see (the players) were bickering with each other. The game wasn’t going their way because of a lack of effort and work ethic. They were disrespectful to each other on the bench. Also, they were very disrespectful to the coaches.”

Isabella said the workout was not as grueling first reported -- no more than 60 to 100 push-ups over the course of about 20 minutes.

“People like to exaggerate,” said the veteran coach of 20 years. “I had them doing 10 push-ups at a time, with breaks in between.”

Isabella’s handling of the allegedly unruly players and his subsequent suspension has proven controversial. Hockey Quebec said it “strongly disagrees with these actions and is completely against the practice,” according to a statement released after the incident.

Others have taken to social media to applaud his old-school method of discipline.

@TonyMarinaro @TSN690 I don't know Louis Isabella. I would have my child play for Louis anytime. — Central Scrutinizer (@Cnt_Scrutinizer) October 28, 2016

“I was a little shocked because of the way everything unfolded,” said Isabella, explaining that he never had any conversations with parents and was not aware of any complaints to the league.

Isabella said none of the players on his elite-level team complained to him about doing the push-ups, a punishment he says he’s used for motivational purposes for many years without incident.

“I don’t think there is anything malicious about doing push-ups,” he said. “I would never force a kid to do something if he was hurt or injured, never.”

Isabella is permitted to get behind the bench again next season, but does not have plans so far to return. If he does, he said he is open to retiring push-ups as a form of discipline after games.

“I’m sorry if things got out of hand,” he said. “I just wish them all the best and hope they have a successful season this year. They are all good kids.”

With files from CTV Montreal