Ah, just two games into the London juvenile schedule and controversy erupts in the form of a familiar theme - bias shown by a referee toward a home team.
The teams pay for 50 minutes of ice time in a curfewed game. Usually they get the games in, sometimes with two or three minutes left on the clock, but this time it was almost 10. A tribute to the parade of penalties dished out to my son's West London team and the debate that eventually erupted.
There were calls for contact with heads. Calls for body contact in a non-contact league. West London likely played three or four minutes at full strength during the entire game, with perhaps the two highest skilled forwards each tossed for separate infractions, perceived or real.
It was the first extraction from the game that was the more curious. An opposing player repeatedly described a West player, who happens to be in a longterm (for a teen) committed relationship with a member of the opposite sex, a homosexual - not that there's anything wrong with that. When the West player replied something like, "Nice Sean Avery act," he was tossed in the penalty box. When he was in the box and asked the referee, "Are you kidding me?", he was tossed from the game.
Apart from breaking the rule that silence is a virtue in minor hockey, the West player did little to justify an early end to his recreational hockey.
Perhaps his real sin was showing a lack of research with his own try at a witty response, as all hockey observers realize that former NHLer Sean Avery is an advocate for all and would never use one's sexual preferences as a slag, slur or silly taunt.
Maybe teenagers should take note. After all, next time the ref might get it right.
The teams pay for 50 minutes of ice time in a curfewed game. Usually they get the games in, sometimes with two or three minutes left on the clock, but this time it was almost 10. A tribute to the parade of penalties dished out to my son's West London team and the debate that eventually erupted.
There were calls for contact with heads. Calls for body contact in a non-contact league. West London likely played three or four minutes at full strength during the entire game, with perhaps the two highest skilled forwards each tossed for separate infractions, perceived or real.
It was the first extraction from the game that was the more curious. An opposing player repeatedly described a West player, who happens to be in a longterm (for a teen) committed relationship with a member of the opposite sex, a homosexual - not that there's anything wrong with that. When the West player replied something like, "Nice Sean Avery act," he was tossed in the penalty box. When he was in the box and asked the referee, "Are you kidding me?", he was tossed from the game.
Apart from breaking the rule that silence is a virtue in minor hockey, the West player did little to justify an early end to his recreational hockey.
Perhaps his real sin was showing a lack of research with his own try at a witty response, as all hockey observers realize that former NHLer Sean Avery is an advocate for all and would never use one's sexual preferences as a slag, slur or silly taunt.
Maybe teenagers should take note. After all, next time the ref might get it right.
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