We’ve all heard and read about bad hockey parents. Go to a few games and you’re bound to find them abusing officials or screaming at the kids on the ice.

The problem has become so rampant Winnipeg hockey parents will be required to take an online Respect in Sport program, beginning next season.

But what about the good hockey parents who do the right thing and teach their kids the right things, only to have it all but undone at a Winnipeg Jets game?

That’s what happened to hockey mom Sue Lotocki of Charleswood, last week.

Lotocki took her 11-year-old son, Jake, to the Jets-New York Islanders game, a huge deal for the kid, who’s been an Islanders fan since he was two.

“Every time the Jets have played the Islanders, we always try to get him there, and we haven’t had any success,” Lotocki said. “So finally this year we were able to get him tickets. And he was pretty excited.”

Even though his favourite player was out with a knee injury, Jake was all gung-ho to wear his John Tavares jersey.

Now, mom knew what that’d mean. Probably some good-natured ribbing from Jets fans in the stands.

“We talked about it actually before we went,” Lotocki said. “And he was prepared.

“When we came in there was some really good-natured teasing, but nothing negative. It wasn’t until after the game was over that it really turned negative.”

The heavily favoured Jets, on a roll under new head coach Paul Maurice, lost the game in overtime.

“We just sort of got caught in this crowd of, I imagine, intoxicated young men, who didn’t treat my son very well,” is how Lotocki put it. “People were swearing, and so he automatically assumes that’s aggressive. I don’t think it’s appropriate to direct profanity at a child because of what they’re wearing.”

Or for any reason.

Jake was a trooper, though. Told himself to just keep walking and ignore the idiots.

Mom got him away from the crowd, where she thought they’d be able to leave the arena in relative peace.

“And then there was this man who just sort of bolted out of nowhere and ran right up to him, in his face, and shouted at him,” she said.

I don’t know what kind of person can scream ‘You suck!’ or ‘Go home, loser!’ into an 11-year-old’s face. But I imagine they’d yell similar sentiments at teenaged refs or opposing kids at a youth game.

In tears, Jake scrunched up his Tavares jersey so people wouldn’t see it.

“We got in the elevator to the parkade, and somebody started in again,” Lotocki said. “And I just kind of looked at him and went, ‘Knock it off — he’s a kid.’ It’s hard to see your kid upset. I just want to protect him.”

That’s not even something a parent should have to worry about at a hockey game.

Sure, Jets fans like to be known as some of the loudest in the NHL. The organization promotes its passionate fan base as much as it does its team.

There’s nothing wrong with any of that.

Lotocki didn’t even blink when a couple of rowdy, upper-deck fans were tossed out during the game.

“It was only when it was directed to him that it became an issue with me,” she said. “I guess I assumed a child would be exempt from that type of behaviour.”

The family tried to contact the MTS Centre, but didn’t hear back, and aren’t holding their breath that they will.

She’s not blaming the Jets, either.

She just hopes people wake up and realize respect in sports goes beyond the kids’ games, and all the way up to the pros. It has to. That’s where the examples are set.

“My son plays hockey... and all the stuff going on with minor hockey leagues, we talk about it a lot,” Lotocki said. “You’re trying to teach the kids right from wrong. It’s discouraging that adults are doing exactly what we tell them not to do.”

Maybe somewhere in the city, a few fans who may have had a few too many last Tuesday will read this, and recognize themselves as the idiots they were.

paul.friesen@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @friesensunmedia