Hockey Coach Jailed For Tripping 13-Year-Old In Handshake Line

Chalk this up as a vote for hockey dads as the worst parents in sports; Martin Tremblay of Vancouver will serve 15 days in jail for assault, for an incident in which he tripped an opposing player after his son's youth hockey game.

Canadian hockey justice is swift and merciless. Tremblay, a volunteer coach, was quickly arrested after the game over the summer, when in the handshake line he stuck out his foot and tripped the 13-year-old. Bad luck, the kid broke his wrist bracing for the fall, and also knocked over a 10-year-old. Tremblay pleaded guilty to two counts of assault, and even though the prosecution didn't ask for jail time, the judge put the hammer down, calling it a "cowardly sucker punch on an unsuspecting victim." (Metaphorically. If he had sucker-punched him, we'd never stop replaying the video.)

Bellows said his client has "paid a huge price" for his actions, including the breakdown of his marriage and the loss of a number of contracts for his construction business.

"He's rebuilding his life after this incident," Bellows told reporters outside the courthouse in Richmond, B.C., on Tuesday. It was unlikely, Bellows said, that Tremblay would ever coach hockey again.

Tremblay will serve his sentence on weekends, and faces 12 months of probation.

[ CBC]