High Schoolers Barred From Hockey Games After Crudely Taunting a Goalie

U.S.|High Schoolers Barred From Hockey Games After Crudely Taunting a Goalie

The full pupil assemblage of a Pennsylvania junior-senior precocious schoolhouse has been barred from attending classmates’ hockey games aft immoderate students chanted sexually explicit vulgarities astatine a visiting team’s goalie — the team’s lone pistillate player.

During a hockey crippled past week betwixt the Armstrong River Hawks and the Mars Fighting Planets, a fig of Armstrong Junior-Senior High School students began chanting “inappropriate and abusive language” astatine the Mars goalie, according to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League. On Thursday, the league announced that Armstrong students would beryllium prohibited from attending games for the remainder of the season, including during the playoffs.

“Providing a harmless situation for subordinate associations and players to enactment successful interscholastic hockey volition ever beryllium the P.I.H.L.’s superior purpose,” the league said successful a statement. “Any actions by spectators that jeopardize oregon infringe upon the quality of players to enactment successful interscholastic hockey successful a harmless situation volition not beryllium tolerated.”

The ban, which primitively applied to students successful grades 9 done 12, was aboriginal extended to see seventh and eighth graders, the Armstrong County Board of Commissioners, which oversees the installation wherever the crippled was played, confirmed successful a connection connected Thursday.

Kirk Lorigan, an Armstrong precocious schoolhouse principal, told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the students who led the chant had been subjected to “appropriate schoolhouse discipline,” but helium did not specify precisely what actions were taken.

Neither Mr. Lorigan nor Mike Cominos, different main astatine Armstrong, which is successful Kittanning, Pa., could instantly beryllium reached for remark connected Friday.

On Friday, the committee of directors for the Mars Hockey Club called the incidental “completely unacceptable.”

“We are hopeful that the attraction this incidental has drawn volition shed airy connected the issues our pistillate athletes look which indispensable not beryllium tolerated and that this attraction volition assistance with eliminating this benignant of behaviour from our sport,” the committee said successful a statement. The committee declined to disclose the goalie’s individuality to support her safety.

In summation to barring Armstrong students from attending games, the league besides required the schoolhouse to supply a installation subordinate oregon head to be each location and distant crippled successful bid to show and study immoderate “inappropriate” behavior.

In Western Pennsylvania, precocious schoolhouse hockey is not school-sponsored but a nine sport, tally by parents and boosters astatine each school. Armstrong is the lone schoolhouse successful the league presently required to person a module subordinate successful attendance.

The Armstrong River Hawks were besides placed connected disciplinary probation for the remainder of the season. Siblings of varsity Armstrong hockey players tin spell to games if they beryllium with a genitor oregon a guardian.

The Armstrong Area School District issued a ceremonial apology to the Mars Area School District and said it would beryllium apologizing to the goalie arsenic well, according to Mark Gross, the Mars territory superintendent. According to the Mars varsity and inferior varsity rosters, the aforesaid goalie plays connected some teams.

“We are assured that the Armstrong Area School District’s efforts volition pb to due subject for those progressive portion besides minimizing the imaginable for aboriginal incidents,” Dr. Gross added.

The contention has inspired sentiment articles successful section newspapers and drawn attraction from nonrecreational hockey players.

Meghan Duggan, an Olympic golden medalist, tweeted successful support of the goalie. “Every clip you instrumentality the ice, women & girls each implicit the hockey assemblage are arrogant of YOU!” she wrote. “You correspond truthful overmuch much than the hateful words that were directed toward you. I basal with you.”

“To each the girls & women who person watched this video & thought determination is not a spot for you successful this athletics — determination is,” Kendall Coyne Schofield, different Olympic golden medalist, said successful a tweet. “To each of those chanting/watching — determination is not.”