A minor hockey official is disputing reports that a "brawl" took place between dozens of parents following a pee wee hockey game in Simcoe.
The Ontario Provincial Police reported earlier this week that a verbal dispute between around 30 parents turned physical at Talbot Gardens Arena just before 5 p.m. on Sunday. However, Simcoe and District Minor Hockey Association President Martin Jefferson spoke to staff and parents who were present that day and said the incident appears to have been exaggerated.
Jefferson said there was a dispute between three or four people in the main lobby of the arena following the game, however, the incident did not escalate to a physical confrontation.
"It wasn't a crowd of 30 people involved, but there were at least 30 people in the lobby," he said. "Somebody did phone the police, so somebody felt it was escalating, but it dissipated as fast as it escalated, and basically fizzled out from there."
The hockey association president said tensions have become high between the two teams that were playing, the Simcoe Warriors and the Paris Wolf Pack, which are currently involved in a playoff series that is tied 2-2.
"We've seen each other a lot in the last 10 days or so," said Jefferson, who added that the game on Sunday was a southern counties game, unrelated to the playoff series. "There were some words exchanged between the rival fans, both on the Simcoe side and on the Paris side... They were ragging each other on back and forth."
Jefferson said he has since been in contact with the president of the Paris Minor Hockey Association, and has contacted parents to remind them of the association's fair play code of conduct.
"We don't tolerate that kind of stuff in Simcoe minor hockey," he said, adding that this kind of incident is not a common occurrence. "We've had discussions with arena staff who are prepared to enforce the removal of people who don't follow our code of conduct."
The first time Jefferson said he heard about that there was an ongoing police investigation was from a Facebook post on Tuesday morning. He said he was surprised that the OPP has referred to the altercation as a "brawl".
"We probably have a couple of embarrassed parents who probably took it a little bit too far and had a shouting match with each other, and that's kind of where we've left it," he said. "We don't endorse it. We deal with it and move on."