TORONTO – A 17-year-old boy has been charged following a fight during a hockey game in Woodstock, Ont. earlier this year.
Police are unable to name the boy charged due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
But the charges stem back to a fight in January. Police received a complaint on January 14, the day after the game.
The investigation forced the police to debate how much violence was actually acceptable in a hockey game, Rod Freeman, Chief of the Woodstock Police Service said in an interview today.
“We knew that this investigation was going to garner country wide attention and there are a number of people with passionate views on both sides of violence in hockey,” he said.
That question was also brought to the crown attorney’s office: Just how much violence is acceptable in a hockey game?
John Gardner, President of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) said in an interview Wednesday that hockey will likely never be eliminated from the sport.
“Unfortunately, it appears the courts are going to have to get involved if hockey can’t do something to deter players from this nonsense,” he said.
He added that it’s unlikely the kids will police themselves. Instead, the National Hockey League (NHL) needs to take the responsibility and create more effective ways of deterring over-the-top violence.
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“We can’t correct this problem in hockey today from the bottom up, which is what people tend to do,” he said. “How can you expect kids that are exposed to this not to feel that it’s ok to do it?”
The GTHL does not allow fighting in the league and any offending player is served an automatic penalty. If a player becomes a repeat offender, they are called into a meeting with the league officials, which helps deter further offences.
But the prevalence of fighting in hockey made it difficult for police officers to determine charges.
“That’s one of the reasons this investigation went on for so long,” Freeman said. “There’s so many strong views about what hockey is all about.
Freeman said that based on video evidence, interviews with witnesses and consultation with the crown attorney, the hockey fight did warrant criminal charges.
The teenager now faces charges of assault causing bodily harm.
He is scheduled to appear in court in July.
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