Shrimp Worters

The Armstrong Community is the owner,   When you own an establishment, you are responsible for what goes on inside of it.   If you own a house and allow a group of minors into your house, you are responsible for their actions.  

On 11/3/2021 at 1:11 PM, oldhockeydad said:

I have been following this thread and incident all week, and just wanted to throw my two cents in.  I had two boys that played both PAHL and PIHL hockey, and as such saw many, many games at the Belmont rink over a 20 year period.  Both of my guys are retired now, and we've been out of the game for 8 years.  However, if anybody pulled me aside, told me of an event like this, and then asked me to guess the location, I'd have had no difficulty in naming Belmont.  There have been numerous disturbing events at that rink over the years, and the extremely large majority of them involved the Kittanning high school crowd.  I've certainly witnessed crude obscene chants over the years.  That's nothing.  I've seen old ladies spit over the balcony onto the visiting bench.  I've seen vile hand gestures made to refs and to visiting players and coaches often times by the mothers of players.  I've seen fights in the stands and out in that parking lot.  The list of events goes on and on.  There's never been adequate security there, but most importantly, there's never been any respect for fellow human beings.  That place is truly a black hole for bad behavior.

I will say that not every organization there has had this problem.   The Freeport crowd was mild in comparison.  The Armstrong youth organization was mild in comparison.  It's important that not every team and organization in that region get painted with the same broad brush.  But trust me, anyone who has been involved in youth or high school hockey over the last 15 years knows where the bad apples are in that area.  

It's distressing to see that even here people are making excuses for this behavior.  No wonder the kids up there are out of control, when even some parents seem to think that this level of uncivilized behavior is acceptable.

You and a few others have commented about your experiences at this rink, thank you.  Other than not allowing high school games to be played at this rink, perhaps PIHL has limited options.   This rink appears to have had issues for years.   While there is plenty of blame to go around, the rink management and rink owners (Armstrong County) deserve the most blame in my opinion.  The players, coaches, refs, fans and administrators all change over the years but this rink seems to be the one that stands out having a consistent long term problem.

I would suggest that others light a Flame and share their experiences/stories at this rink to educate the forum.  I'm sure the stories are out there, so please share them.

Hopefully the slap on the wrist by PIHL is not the end of justice here.  Statue of limitations won't end for a while.  Hopefully the family pursues action against the rink management and the rink owners (Armstrong County).  Nothing causes change like a big pinch to the pocketbook.  Even if the family doesn't need/want the money, it could be donated to a cause and help prevent this from occurring to another child.

4 minutes ago, hockeyisgreat said:

I think we have heard enough about who is to blame. We all think we know what we would have done in the moment. Easiest thing in the world is to second guess. I know there are a lot of people who feel bad that they didn't step up in the moment! Time to step up now and educate ourselves and our kids on what is and isn't acceptable behavior.  Can't change the past! Can only prepare and make the future better. Learn from mistakes and make things better.

Wow, just move on and don’t worry about blame.  Seems to me that someone should be held accountable.   The goalie at least deserves accountability.

58 minutes ago, AMR24 said:

I have thought about this a lot. Every adult in that building failed this girl. The chants are loud and clear. Enough adults knew what was being said. And, as for the adults on the ice, they heard it. And if they did not, they sure heard the players on the ice discussing it. Yes, the parents in the stands had a responsibility to stop it. The security guard had a responsibility as well. There were many avenues that could have been taken to stop it. But why are we over looking the responsibility of the coaches and refs? They have a responsibility also. How many games have we all been to where a ref stops a game to kick out a parent then keeps the game stopped until the parent exits? I’ve seen it done more times than I care to admit. How many times have we seen them issue a bench minor for parent’s behaviors in the stands?  They had options and the chose to not to act. The Mars coach could have refused to go out for the 3rd period. His goalie was visibly upset. This was well beyond any heckling. While she’s on that ice, she is his responsibility. And, I’m sorry, but her well being is far greater than any point in standings or fine he may have received for choosing not to continue to play. The Armstrong coach could have done the same thing. Instead, every adult sat back and let it occur. Then when the story breaks, fingers start pointing and blame is passed around. Take ownership and responsibility, be an adult and a roll model. It’s really not difficult to do. I would also go out on a limb and say if this was directed at a male goalie with a different version of the chant, the response would have been different.

Well said.  I agree that all of the adults in the rink failed.  For those adults that were required to take Safesport training, is this a violation of safesport?

How about adults that were present and are “mandatory reporters of child abuse”, have they reported this incident?  This went on throughout the game, probably for 2 hours.   The two links below clarify who is a mandatory reporter and also defines child abuse.   
 

https://pafsa.org/who-are-mandated-reporters/

https://pafsa.org/what-is-child-abuse-neglect/

16 minutes ago, unknown said:

it’s on the news, olympians have spoke about it. let’s hold off on further spread until there is proper disciplinary action and local identification. 

Proper disciplinary action?     What do think is proper?  No fans for 8 or 10 games?  Suspend a couple of football players for 3 days of school?   That won’t change what has to been going on at this rink for years. 
 

The security guard stood there doing nothing while the goalie was abused.  I assume a rink manger saw what was happening and did nothing.  Armstrong county owns the rink and they have allowed this (not this extreme in this case) to go on for years.   Proper disciplinary action will something that clearly assures that there is real change to prevent this from ever occurring at this rink ever again.   Maybe the  Armstrong district attorney needs to get involved.    This is more than goalie taunting.   Maybe I’m way overboard...

54 minutes ago, Lisa redepennimg said:

It wasn't the team that made the comments. The boys on that team are ALL friends of hers and have played with her on multiple occasions. There should be no punishment for the team in both mine and the goalies opinion. Actually a player that got hurt wanted to come back to.defend her, and I feel like that speaks volumes. 

You’ve handled this situation with a lot of grace. Thank you for coming on this forum to clarify the situation.     Who do you blame for this being allowed to continue so long during the game?

I doubt I would have your composure if I was in your situation.   Good luck to you and your goalie.