Players And Coach Suspended After Locker Room Fight In Vaughan

A group of teenage hockey players in Vaughan, Ont. were suspended from a game after their locker room scuffle was posted on a website, but the hockey organization says the fist-swinging skirmish hardly constitutes a “fight club.” 

“A fight club to me means organized and teaching an individual how you stand,” said Toros Assadourian, President of the Vaughan Panthers, as he compared the altercation to a group of kids aimlessly flailing at each other.

The reaction of the team follows a published report that likened the incidents to a fight club, a practice that started to gain steam after a movie about organized fighting rings.

The video, which was originally uploaded to Facebook webpage and brought to the attention of the Greater Toronto Hockey League in January from two separate sources, shows a couple of teens from the Vaughan Panthers Minor Midget A team clad in helmets and hockey gloves tossing punches at each other as giggles and cheers can be heard in the background.

Several teens, some still in their equipment, stand on benches to capture the fight with cell phone cameras. After a few minutes, one of the teens is knocked on the head, and loses his balance as he staggers for the door.

“The matter came to our attention several weeks ago and we spoke to the president of the club about it,” said Scott Oakman, the executive director of the Greater Toronto Hockey League.

Two different people, one affiliated with the team and another person who is not, showed Oakman three separate videos of the locker-room brawls, which apparently happened on the same day.

Oakman said the Vaughan Panthers acted swiftly, calling a team meeting to discuss the fight as they educated players on the dangers associated with fighting.

The organization suspended five players and the coach, Dave Castellani for one game.

“The actions taken by the club by suspending the players is to bring to the attention the seriousness of the situation,” said Oakman.

According to police, it’s not exactly illegal for the teens to fight each other, if both of the players have agreed to tussle, but there are grey areas in the law.

“You can have a consensual fight, but you can’t consent to bodily harm,” said Insp. Doug Conley, from the York Regional Police.

This means if during the fight a person is injured, charges could be laid.

Charges could also be laid if the fight takes place in a public place and it causes a disturbance.

“We discourage anyone from fighting in anyway because people can get hurt and things can get out of hand,” said Conley.

Three years ago there were a number of situations involving pre-game fights, according to Oakman. Back then, both Hockey Canada and the league issued statement outlining the dangers associated with locker-room boxing.

Assadourian also believes off-ice fighting isn’t a “new phenomenon,” but said coaches, parents and leagues need to be responsible from the moment a player pushes open the locker room door until he leaves the arena.

“It’s not just a matter of fighting on the ice. It’s a matter of locker room boxing, which is in a sense frowned upon by Hockey Canada,” said Assadourian, who encourages educating young players on the dangers of fighting.

“Incidents like this are meant to make everybody stand up and say ‘you have to do something about it.”‘