A 10-year-old boy who was verbally threatened by a teammate's dad in a North Vancouver dressing room says the incident hasn't affected his love of the game.
Rocky Bhala said Thursday he still enjoys playing with the Atom 1 team of the Burnaby Winter Club and has learned it's important to "keep your head up."
Meanwhile, the hockey dad who issued the threat won't be left with a criminal record for losing his cool following a hearing in North Vancouver provincial court.
Terry Mukhtiar Singh Litt, 57, was handed a conditional discharge Thursday afternoon after pleading guilty to threatening Bhala, a member of his son's team at the Burnaby Winter Club. Bhala was nine years old at the time.
Crown counsel Sunny Bains told the judge Litt apparently snapped after he came into the dressing room at Karen Magnussen Arena following a game Feb. 21 and found his son crying.
Litt's son told him Bhala had punched him.
Litt then went over to Bhala and yelled, "'If you touch my son again I will f***ing kill you,'" said Bains.
"Rocky was scared and started crying," she said, adding the incident was witnessed by three other adults in the change room. "This behaviour is not acceptable under any circumstances."
Bains said the young hockey players had a history of physical altercations in the lead-up to the change room incident.
Litt's defence lawyer Phil Riddell told the judge that issues between parents at the hockey club also contributed to the problem.
Riddell described a hardcore culture among certain parents at the Burnaby club.
"There's an expectation teams are going to win."
Riddell said Bhala's father was part of that group while Litt thought the emphasis should be on having fun. As a result, the two fathers didn't speak to each other, he said. Riddell said Litt now "deeply regrets saying those words." He has also taken anger management counselling, he said. Litt also apologized for his actions in court. "I shouldn't have said the
things I said," he told the judge.
In handing Litt a conditional discharge, Judge John Milne said he accepted that Litt's behaviour that day was out of character. "He's not one of these parents who is at the rinks, screaming and shouting," said the judge.
"It's apparent he lost his cool in the change room."
Milne placed Litt on probation for a year, with conditions to take counselling if required and have no contact with Bhala or his family members.
Rocky, his father Ron
Bhala and various members of the Burnaby Winter Club were in court Thursday for the sentencing.
Ron Bhala said he was satisfied with the outcome, adding the incident hasn't affected how he or his son feels about the sport, despite the fact "it's been a stressful year for us."
He added while he wasn't pleased with how coaches initially dealt with the incident, he harbours no bad feelings about the hockey club itself.
Peter Pacholko, a hockey dad with the club whose son
is a friend of Rocky, said he hopes the guilty plea will allow the young player to get back to concentrating on hockey.
"As a hockey parent I'm glad there's some closure for
Rocky," he said.
"It's an intense, emotional game," he said. "As Canadians, we're pretty passionate about hockey. It's unfortunate sometimes these incidents occur."
