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I’m going to play devils advocate here but judging from my experience, a sizable percentage of the parents who have played hockey do not yell at the referees. That is a solid statement that I can get on board with. That said, a lot of them do tend to lend their “expert” opinions to other parents in the stands in regards to not only officiating but other topics such as questioning makeup of lines, d pairings, PK/PP etc. Parents are new to the game are easily influenced by another parent who extols a type of street cred simply because they played hockey at some point. I don’t think there is really a demographic for a good hockey parent prototype. It really comes down to “less is more” talking at games and practices and “if you are talking you are not listening” when it comes to your kid.

Well I guess I can unfollow this thread now... All useful info has been presented and the pie fight is about to start. LOL

It is probably less than 50% of parents that have played at best, and I'm not counting the dad that started playing beer league at 28 years old and thinks because they started watching hockey in 1990 knows everything there is to know about the game and how it's supposed to be played, just parents that grew up playing the game and have that as a point of reference. I agree that Mom's yell the loudest and that Dad's are on the refs the most, but again I feel like these are the parents who didn't grow up around the game and think they know about the game, but actually "know just enough to be dangerous". These are the parents that I never wanted to be anywhere near when watching a youth game. There's a reason that, from my experience, that the parents that grew up around the game for the majority of their lives are usually the parents who watch the game from a corner of the rink away from the shit show that happens in the stands.

Nope. I have a feeling it's really widespread. Don't know what can be done about it. I get why people may be reluctant to address it. People are scary. Either block em or encourage refs not to drop the puck till they stop/go. But I hate that coaches and refs have to stop games to address the stands. BTW....you are a clear problem when your own coaches are having to yell at you from the bench. I am leaving games so angry at people. We had such a horrible year and we should be beyond grateful. Let the kids play without your commentary. Let there be fun again.