A house announcer was arrested following a violent altercation with referees in the middle of a game in a Gaspésie senior hockey league on Sunday.
In a game where tempers flared from the start, the house announcer, Dan Pelletier, who has not been formally charged, jumped onto the ice to physically attack one of the referees, Olivier Therriault.
Quickly, a second referee wanted to intervene before the arrival of a few players. The announcer, who also acts as a minor official, finally walked off the ice to the cheers of the crowd.
The incident occurred during the third period when the Bois BSL of Mont-Joli was ahead of the Nordet of Haute-Gaspésie, at the J.-Robert-Lévesque arena, in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts.
The announcer allegedly asked the head referee to impose an additional penalty on a player from the leading team because, in his opinion, the player had left the penalty bench too soon.
The referee would have consulted the other officials, who would have decided not to impose the penalty.
At the end of this unusual breaststroke, the Sûreté du Québec was forced to intervene around 6:30 p.m. following a complaint of assault.
“A person was arrested and released on a promise to appear,” said Sergeant Claude Doiron. The videotapes will obviously be viewed by the investigators.
Olivier Therriault, also director of operations for CFYX radio in Rimouski, was dressed in a striped sweater despite the fact that the station he runs is a major sponsor and the official radio station of the Mont-Joli team. Joined by The newspaperhe declined to comment due to the ongoing police investigation.
A contested choice
“What is he [Therriault] doing on the ice? These are two match officials who argued with each other. It’s something I’ve never seen! All that happened was the accumulation of an incompetent who showed up in Haute-Gaspésie and who came to steal a show in front of 700 spectators, ”says Guy Anctil, the Nordet coach.
“Referees, there are all around Gaspésie. They sent Mr. Therriault for the third time to taunt us,” concludes Mr. Anctil.
Mont-Joli ultimately won the game to reach the playoff final.
“unacceptable”
The head of Hockey Bas-Saint-Laurent, Guylain Raymond, denounced this act of violence.
” This is unacceptable. It’s not good for anyone’s image. We are still waiting for the video. We don’t have it yet,” he said.
Present at the match, the mayor of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts condemned these disgraceful gestures.
“It is deplorable. These are gestures that we do not want to see. Normally, it’s a very clean league without too many fights,” said Simon Deschênes.
— With the collaboration of TVA Nouvelles
► This other episode of gratuitous violence recalls therecent assault on a 15-year-old referee in Coaticook.
