Do you remember when you found your calling? It might have happened at a different point in your life than your parents, siblings, or friends. Corey Simms found his about five years ago while watching the St. John's Caps, a junior hockey team based in Newfoundland and Labrador. He decided to yell at their opponents.
Simms has been so consistent as a heckler that one of the Caps' opponents, the Conception Bay Junior Renegades, actually forfeited a playoff game on March 14 because they didn't want to deal with him. Renegades executive Kevin Tobin said Simms went beyond standard heckling:
"He's screaming and yelling at the players, he's yelling at the parents," said Tobin.
"There was a player injured and was taken off the ice and he was standing near the boards, blocking the path of taking the player to the dressing room."
When interviewed by NTV, Simms said he never blocked anyone, and defended his heckling by pointing out that the players are usually 18 to 22 years old, and therefore old enough to deal with the shouting.
"If the hockey moms can't handle me yelling and heckling at the rinks, I think they should stick to crosswords and knitting," Simms said. "And if the young boys—young men, I should say—can't handle a bit of heckling at the rink, they should stick to tiddlywinks and Playstation."
Simms also addressed a report that he told a woman he would "rip her head off and clean the ice with it."
"I'm not a terrorist," he said. "That's like ISIS stuff. They use knives."
The St. John's Junior Hockey League technically couldn't ban Simms, as those restrictions are individually enforced by each rink, so they pursued the most Canadian strategy on March 11: a strongly worded letter asking Simms not to attend games or practices. When Simms planned on going to the Renegades-Caps game, the Renegades forfeited.
H/t to Andrew