Milbury won't be charged

[DaGreatGazoo]

Too bad they made a decision already..I was hoping the bag of wind would miss the Winter Classic.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/News/2011/12/23/19163431.html

[idahophilly]

They should throw that as-s clown in jail and throw away the key... Did the "offence" happen in Canada or the US?

[JackStraw]

They should throw that as-s clown in jail and throw away the key... Did the "offence" happen in Canada or the US?

I hate to be in the position of defending Milbury, because he is a jerk, but I don't think what he did, while wrong and excessive, warranted criminal charges:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2011/12/18/mike-milbury-denies-assault-claims-son-was-targeted/giUFwYJJQ5wCDZNoI1i0sM/story.html

[idahophilly]

Neither do I. I just want him locked away so I don't have to listen to him... As far as what he did...the kid probably deserved a good shake and yellin at...

[blocker]

Yup....I don't care for Milbury either, but I'm glad there are no charges.

[blocker]

Jack....

This isn't a similar situation, but:

One of our leagues was of 6 to 8 year olds. It consisted of surrounding towns with teams of 11 players, plus a couple pooled teams to keep the 11 player limit. We had no written codes for substitutions, but we had agreed on a few things. One was that the strongest 5 kids would play against the other teams strongest 5. A horn would sound every three minutes and all 5 kids would be subbed. No scores were supposed to be kept. It was suggested that a different kid play goal each game.

We had about 20 teams. Everybody played by the rules, except for one "coach". He would leave his own son on the ice during changes, while some little 7 year old kid sat on the bench. People complained to me about his treatment of children. I really had no authority over him, but I tried to fix it by going to his local organization. That approach didn't work. So, I decided to have another talk with him, even though that hadn't helped previously.

So, I'm waiting for the end of his game to have my chat. I watch the game. There's one kid who hasn't played at all. Some man climbs into the bench area, grabs the "coach" by the shirt front, and punches him. Across the rink, the rest of the parents cheer. I turn and leave, because this parent had delivered his message more effectively than I could have.

[JackStraw]

Jack....

This isn't a similar situation, but:

One of our leagues was of 6 to 8 year olds. It consisted of surrounding towns with teams of 11 players, plus a couple pooled teams to keep the 11 player limit. We had no written codes for substitutions, but we had agreed on a few things. One was that the strongest 5 kids would play against the other teams strongest 5. A horn would sound every three minutes and all 5 kids would be subbed. No scores were supposed to be kept. It was suggested that a different kid play goal each game.

We had about 20 teams. Everybody played by the rules, except for one "coach". He would leave his own son on the ice during changes, while some little 7 year old kid sat on the bench. People complained to me about his treatment of children. I really had no authority over him, but I tried to fix it by going to his local organization. That approach didn't work. So, I decided to have another talk with him, even though that hadn't helped previously.

So, I'm waiting for the end of his game to have my chat. I watch the game. There's one kid who hasn't played at all. Some man climbs into the bench area, grabs the "coach" by the shirt front, and punches him. Across the rink, the rest of the parents cheer. I turn and leave, because this parent had delivered his message more effectively than I could have.

That's a great story. Despite my steadfast disapproval of violence, in this case I think the "punishment" was justified.

[Garandman]

This was an interesting situation for me because I was at Boch Ice Center (where Millbury's team is based) when the news came out and heard their side of the story, then heard a Brookline PD's officer's side of the story. Then I saw some online posts from former teammates and teammate parents of the boy involved in the altercation.

The boy involved was a 12 year old named Zach K from North Andover, MA born in 1999, height 5'0 weight 95 lbs. He was playing for the Boston Junior Blackhawks based in Everett, MA. they removed all his personal data from their website but don't seem to understand how the internet works and it's all still out there.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the Junta case of 2001 had a profound impact on youth sports organizations here and elsewhere. Most arenas have a zero tolerance policy towards any sort of demonstration and transgressors are escorted out. Most leagues also have a "Code of Conduct" which allows referees to call a forfeit for fan behavior as well.

Here are some of the posts about this player from a local hockey forum: emphasis added.

“Learn the details before you talk about closing ranks. No fan of Mad Mike, but the kid in question is a known trouble maker and head case out of North Andover. Plays for MXI [Middlesex Islanders YHO] 99 AAA as well. Milbury did what a number of coaches, parents and players INCLUDING THOSE ON HIS TEAM would love to do!

...You have a 2nd here. Someone should have choked the punk kid a long time ago. Parents watch him do it game after game and then they want to defend him. Do everyone a favor a get the kid out of hockey now. Of course that will be after you try an sue to collect money because the little hack's hockey "career" has been derailed. MM probably saved dozens of kids from this punks goonery.

...ZK has been wreaking havoc for years. His mom is already sending notes out to MXI families that there are news trucks outside the house etc. People have wanted to wring his neck for years. In fact one person did same as Milbury and ZK's old lady called the cops then as well. Nothing happened to that hockey mom however. The entire K family is all about drama plain and simple. Wake up Z is not an angel and needs meds.

...ZK is nothing but trouble. The moment everyone heard that he was the one involved with Milbury's kid we all said the same thing "NO SURPRISE".His parents should make this go away fast because he will be exposed for what he really is and they are nothing but enablers. Milbury broke up a fight and swore, big deal.

Parents blame everyone else for whatever he does. There is a reason he is on a different team every year. Ask any parent on any of his previous teams and they will all say this kid is finally being exposed for the troublemaker he is. Until we see a video that shows us an assault nobody will feel sorry for this kid.”

The facts as I could discern them are as follows:

- The player Zach K has, as seen above, quite a negative "rep" for a 12yo.

- This player had been verbally abusing Milbury's kid throughout the game. There are plenty of kids around who want to "make their rep" by harassing Milbury, so he's used to it. This was beyond anything that you or I would tolerate in a youth hockey game.

- Milbury, as an assistant coach, asked the other team's coach to have the boy stop with the harassment. It is not known of the other coach took any action, but the behavior continued.

- After the game was over and the referees had departed, a shootout exhibition between the two teams was planned. Milbury was walking out on the ice to be a goal judge. In other words, by position and activity he had a valid reason for being on the ice surface.

- Some sort of physical altercation broke out between the players. The head coach of the Milbury's team grabbed his boy and sent him off the ice. Milbury grabbed this other boy and pulled him out of the fight, and swore at him, but did not "rough him up" or otherwise abuse him in any way. I'm sure everyone who has ever broken up a fight understands how things can happen. But to put it in perspective, the Millbury boy was "handled" about the same way, and was removed from the ice.

- The player's mother did not report the incident until a day after it had occurred.

- Brookline is known in the area as an extremely Liberal town - Cambridge, MA Liberal - and most in the area believe that if the BPD could possibly have brought charges against Milbury or anyone else, they would have done so.

- Although it doesn't bear on the circumstances above, this was an exhibition game at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline, MA paid for by Millbury.

The fact that all charges were dropped and he was reinstated to his announcer position almost immediately should speak volumes about the magnitude of the "incident." It is highly, highly questionable whether anyone other than Millbury would have been charged at all.