It’s Sunday afternoon and Ed stands alone in the lobby of this modern four-rink hockey facility. Oversized canvas bags with team logos stamped on the side litter the place as players line up at the snack bar for their post-game treat. Parents huddle in small groups to tell stories and share hockey gossip.

Ed opens the door to the rink and bounds up the stairs, two steps at a time, to take his place behind the railing just above the last row of spectators. This is the last game of his three-game suspension.

Ed selected each and every one of these nine-year-olds who are on the ice before him. He delights in finding new drills that will help them improve. He fervently preaches the merits of methodical, defensive hockey. He says his systems, along with his intensity and passion, give his team an edge. Too bad the parents vehemently disagree. They say the games are boring and his emotional outbursts lead to unprovoked fights with referees.

His latest run-in with game officials was, to be charitable, bizarre. It came after Ed’s team lost the second game of a Christmas tournament. The organizers had asked the coaches to pick a “player of the game” for the opposing team; the winner is presented with a small trophy. The dispute started when the referee politely asked Ed for his selection. It ended a few minutes later with Ed shouting obscenities. He was handed a three-game suspension for the offence fittingly called “travesty of the game.”

The parents had delivered their own assessment of Ed’s behaviour weeks earlier. Twelve of them signed a petition that said their sons would not return next year if Ed coached. They hate his outbursts and his conservative, boring hockey.

Early in this game the opposition scores, which is not good for Ed’s team. His defencemen are told to take no more than three strides before they pass and the forwards must dump the puck into the offensive zone once they cross centre ice. Goals have been hard to come by.

Ed the spectator is continually in motion, just as he is on the bench. He shouts instructions and leans into shots as if the stick was in his hands. He’s almost on the ice with the players.

After two periods, with the team down by a goal, the players gather around the assistant coach who’s left in charge when Ed’s not on the bench. They pound their sticks on the ice. Some of them are laughing. They do their team chant with more enthusiasm than he’s ever heard. Something is up.

Off the faceoff the puck goes into his team’s zone to one of the better skaters. He picks it up and after five strides heads for open ice. He hits the centre line and dekes around a surprised forward. He heads to the blueline, still in control, and keeps going. Ed’s shouting, “Three strides and pass! Three strides and pass!”

But the kid keeps going, with everyone on the other team chasing him. He stops and passes to a teammate who’s alone in front of the net. The boy shoots and the score is tied. The parents cheer. Ed is fuming. The play violated every one of his rules about safe, disciplined hockey.

A few minutes later a kid who’s a mediocre skater tries the same thing. His skates get tangled and he sprawls to the ice. The puck rolls to a player on the opposing team who gets a breakaway and scores. Parents from that team cheer.

Ed swears to himself and erupts: “Don’t carry the puck. Shoot it in. Don’t be selfish!”

His team ignores him. This time a smooth-skating forward makes a couple of great moves and drives to the net only to hit the post with his shot.

Ed marches back and forth as if he’s attached to the play. This is not the style of hockey he supports. One of his guys awkwardly collides with an opposing player and gets a penalty. Ed is incensed. He screams at the referee. “It was an accident, you moron!”

There are only a few seconds left as the power play begins. The opponents get a couple harmless shots on net. One of Ed’s favourite defencemen picks up the puck. Ed relaxes because he knows this kid will safely shoot it down the ice, just as he’s been taught.

Instead, the kid lowers his head and takes off. Ed is incredulous as his player stickhandles to his own blueline and then stumbles. Two of the opposition players collide and miraculously he’s in the clear. Every one of the team’s supporters are on their feet cheering as he heads to the net, only to be stopped by the loud bark of the horn. The game is over.

There’s excitement in the crowd. The final period was more entertaining than any game they’d played all year. One of the parents walks by Ed, who’s scowling. He taps Ed on the back and says, “we might have lost, but that’s the type of hockey we came to see.”

The parents flow out of the rink bubbling with excitement. They’d seen action, passion, kids with a chance to make the risky — and potentially spectacular — play. No one cared that the team had lost. Except Ed. For him it was a day of broken systems and a stupid ref. He marches out of the rink defeated, a man not moved by mere fun.

  [Email Ken here]

I am so tired of minor hockey being portrayed as the domain of maniacal, antisocial, self-centered heathens who live vicariously through their kids. The few "Eds" out there are an almost incalculable minority, and they exist in every sport and every kids' activity, whether it's dance, music, baseball, or hockey, yet they command the lion's share of the attention paid by the media.
And sadly, we can't even blame the media alone; Don Cherry is right -- those Hockey Canada commercials are an insult to every hockey parent in Canada.
I have two sons who went through the Calgary hockey system, and who both experienced the extremes of the skill ladder, from Atom 9 to Bantam AAA and Junior B. Wouldn't it be nice if we could regularly see the media portray a balanced picture of the vast majority of adults who volunteer their time and effort?
There are unsung heros on every team, and kids' lives are being shaped in untold ways by coaches', parents', and volunteers' love for the game. But their stories will never be told, because unlike Ed's, stories about good people don't let us feel smug or superior.

Tim Ramsey,
Calgary
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Ken, you've have accurately described the 1/1000 people who frequent every rink in Canada. It's unfortunate that its Ed's ignorance that provides his stardom and not his coaching ability, but the Eds of the world will never see it that way.
We have a few Eds in our hockey association as well that I have had the displeasure of listening to at full volume. Most hockey associations have been making great strides in an attempt to remove people like Ed from the sport.
I wonder if any of the "Eds'" thoughts are put into the feelings of the refs at all. After all, if they are refereeing a group of nine-year-olds then the refs would only be around 12 years old themselves.
I don't always agree with the message your stories are trying convey, but I'm fully on board with this one.

Cory Pirlot
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Even though hockey is not the best-known sport in these parts, you see the same behaviour in all sports. Unfortunately, a number of parents and coaches seem to forget that sports, especially the great Canadian game should be fun. Keep up the good work.

Edd Baker
Dallas, Texas
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While these people do exist, I have been involved in minor hockey as a coach for six years. I have never met a coach like this, nor a parent. I met only one who was even close. These tales are tragic, to say the least, and should not be tolerated. But we have to focus on the good and not the bad. I hear a lot of encouragement and very little negative talk in the rinks. It is easy to get caught up in it and I believe many of us have the potential to go too far. It is just a game, and luckily, most of us remember that most of the time.

Greg Dunlap
Fredericton, N.B.
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Hey Ken, I'm still waiting for your positive article on hockey, I mean anything! Someone must have really upset you in minor hockey in the past because you clearly have an axe to grind. Can you write anything regarding hockey that is positive, or is negative jornalism the only thing that is taught these days at journalism school? Give us all a break and quit being such a pessimist! Quite honestly, Ken, your articles are beginning to reek of sour grapes!

Randy Voth
Chilliwack, B.C.
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In every hockey rink in Canada on every Sunday afternoon you can have this type of story come up. "Ed" believes that he has discovered the next crop of NHL stars. The parents want their kids to have fun. Has anyone asked the kids want they want? What has to be decided is, at what level is your child going to end up at? Unfortunately not every child is going to become the next superstar in the NHL.
Both parents and the hockey organizations need to come to an understanding of what goes on at both ends. The coaches are picked by the organizations, and have gone to coaching clinics, and nowadays have their backgrounds checked. Organizations can't put just anyone in that position.
Organizations must realize that parents give a lot of their time, and money, towards their child's recreation. As well as a lot of trust. I am sure that every child begins playing hockey because of the Joe Thorntons, Jose Theodores, and Jarome Inginlas -- todays NHL superstars. All in the hope of becoming tomorrow's superstars. To show the kids this side of minor hockey can be damaging to their hockey careers, or even their everyday life.

Shawn Jardine
Edmonton, Alta.
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