An assistant coach for a Massachusetts high school hockey team has resigned and faces criminal charges for an alleged assault on a referee after a game.
A Massachusetts hockey coach resigned after being arrested after a game Wednesday on charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct for an alleged assault on a referee.
William C. Kenney III, a 46-year-old from Taunton, was arraigned Thursday in Wrentham District Court, according to the Boston Globe.
According to the referee, who was not named as the victim of the alleged crime, Kenney was upset about an icing call in the first period of the game—which Taunton High School lost—and confronted him after the game was over.
The referee told police that Kenney had taunted him the entire game and afterward came over and threatened to “kick [the referee’s] a**.”
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Kenney allegedly chest-bumped the ref and shoved him. The referee responded by pulling Kenney’s jersey over his head and the two began to wrestle. The referee said his finger was bitten hard enough to draw blood.
But it was good that cooler heads prevailed. According to another coach, who was at the rink waiting for his team’s turn to play, the Taunton fans began to shout and swear at the police as Kenney was being arrested.
“It was like a mob mentality,” said Attleboro police chief Kyle Heagney, who also coaches the Norton High School team.
At his arraignment, Kenney was ordered to stay away from the referee and from all youth sporting events.
Hopefully, that ban can be extended until, like, forever, because this guy doesn’t need to be anywhere near youth sporting events.
Calls are going to happen during the course of a game that coaches won’t like. Make your point and move on, but attacking an official over a call from the first period is beyond ludicrous.
That’s because attacking an official is beyond ludicrous in the first place. Youth coaches—and yes, a high school assistant coach is still a “youth coach”—have a responsibility to not just teach the game, but also to set an example.
Attacking an official is about as far from setting an example as you can go.
I don’t care if the guy gets jail time or not. Pay a fine, do some community service, whatever.
But whatever sentence is handed down needs to include a clause that he can never again coach youth sports at any level.
You attacked a referee at a high-school hockey game. There’s no walking back from that.
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