Hockey Mom Reveals Why She Stormed the Ice Mid-Fight

Hockey Mom Reveals Why She Stormed the Ice Mid-Fight
By Katie Kindelan | ABC News Blogs – 4 hours ago

As Gina O'Toole sat in the stands watching a fight break out among players in her teenage son's hockey game and seeing the referees do nothing, the Boston-area mom says she knew she had to do something.

She also knew she had to take her pocketbook with her.

"What was I supposed to do with it, throw it into the stands and say, 'Hey, could you hold this? I have to break up a hockey fight?'" O'Toole said today on " Good Morning America" of the white purse she never let go of while storming the ice and yelling at the refs to break up the fight.

That purse and O'Toole's dramatic step to break up the fight between players of the Boston Raptors and the Connecticut Tribe - two teams representing Boston youth summer programs - made her a hero among moms when video of the incident was posted on YouTube.

O'Toole's identity had remained a mystery until today when she appeared on "GMA" to explain why she took action.

"I've seen fights usually between one or two children and the refs usually step in immediately and break it up. That didn't happen," she said. "I just found myself opening the gate and walking onto the ice and saying, 'Hey, you need to get control of this game. What are you doing?'"


(Read More:) http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/hockey-mom-reveals-why-she-stormed-ice-mid-144410831--abc-news-topstories.html

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


I'm kind of torn on this one.

On one hand, I think the mom overstepped the boundaries by interfering in this game in such a bold manner. It's not like it was pee-wee hockey and young children were involved. That's not even to mention the embarrassment her son must have endured from it (and will continue to for the rest of his high school life). I believe she had a right to be upset about the referee's feeble attempts to halt the fight and should voice those concerns, but not physically interject herself in the middle of the fracas.

On the other hand, that ref SHOULD have attempted to step in and stop the fighting. These are not professional athletes that understand all of the risks and are compensated handsomely for it. They are minors that should be protected from possible serious injury and also taught sportsmanship at the amateur level, not thuggery or goonishness.

The ref that stood by just blowing a whistle should be suspended and reprimanded for his lack of action to put a stop to the fight and the mom should be barred from her son's sporting events for a year for her intervention into a live game. You can't have fans deciding on their own what is too far and just becoming "vigilante referees" whenever they choose to. It would be total chaos and could potentially trigger an even worse situation or even an injury to the intervening parent/fan.