Parent Suspensions
Unfortunately over the last few years there have been a number of incidents involving parents in the stands between other spectators and/or game officials. While neither example is good for the league, the issues with the game officials is especially troublesome. Most of these officials are themselves minors learning the art of officiating and should not be subject to taunting or verbal harassment by spectators, especially adults. While some associations have a good number of officials others are struggling to keep and recruit officials and the idea of being put on the spot by adult spectators is more than many young people are willing to risk in order to be an official. The number of officials in our league and entire zone is quite low so unless you are willing to put on the stripes and do some games keep with the spirit of the game and allow the young officials to do their job as best they can without being afraid to make the necessary calls and mistakes that are going to happen during the course of the game.
At the spring 2015 meeting of the Hi-Way 14 Hockey League it was decided to adopt a policy for dealing with parents who cross the line during the course of any Hi-Way 14 Hockey League game. This could be written up by the game officials or the facility hosting the game with their own Zero Tolerance Policy. In either case the Hi-Way 14 Hockey League will suspend, or uphold the suspension of any Hi-Way 14 Hockey League Association with a Zero Tolerance Policy in their facility, any parent who is physically or verbally abusive to game officials, players, or team officials. Any Zero Tolerance Policy suspensions by an individual facility would be enforced throughout the entire Hi-Way 14 Hockey League, not just at the facility where the offence occurred, provided that details of the suspension are provided by the facility board/employees to the Hi-Way 14 Hockey League, and the incident occurred during any Hi-Way 14 Hockey League game.
If a parent from a team is suspended it is up to the offending association to enforce the suspension. If the suspension is not honored by the offending association then their bond would be forfeited to the league and no teams within the association would be able to participate within the league until such time that the bond plus penalty was paid in full to the league. 