‘HE WAS ASSAULTED’

Connecticut Youth Hockey Coach Fired After Pulling Kid Down on Ice

A video of the incident appears to show the child being yanked down on the ice.

A youth hockey coach has been fired after allegedly grabbing an opposing player’s jersey and pulling him down to the ice. The incident took place in the dying moments of a game between Connecticut’s South Windsor Knights and a Massachusetts team called the St. Nicks. Tama Parsons, the St. Nicks’ head coach, posted footage of the encounter on Facebook showing one of her 14-year-old players being grabbed as he skated past the Knights’ bench. “The coach grabbed him by the back of his jersey and shoulder pads and pulled him straight down to the ground, like a horse collar,” Parsons told NECN. “You have to win with class and you have to lose with class and I think that’s kind of lost.” The Knights apologized in a statement, saying the behavior was “not indicative of our organization and what we strive to be,” and adding that “the coach was terminated and forbidden from coaching in any and all South Windsor Youth Hockey Association events.” Tina Ackerman, the boy’s mother, said: “The fact that he was assaulted, bullied by this man, it’s just really, really eye-opening and disappointing.”