Minor league hockey coach facing assault charges after on-ice brawl

A minor league hockey coach in Valleyfield is facing assault charges following a police investigation into a brawl at the end of a game in December.

Valleyfield coach Sylvain Belanger appeared in court for his arraignment Monday morning.

The charge relates to an on-ice melee after one of the players on Belanger's team allegedly called an opponent a racial slur.

The incident, captured on video, took place at the end of a U18 Midget A game between Valleyfield Braves and Ile-Perrot Riverains in December.

The video shows Belanger shoving Ile-Perrot assistant coach Jason McCaig to the ice.

McCaig, who was on the ice in dress shoes at the time, said he suffered a contusion on his hip and ended up with a bruise about the size of a grapefruit.

Riverains player Aiden Chase said a Valleyfield Brave player called him the n-word.

A small altercation broke out, but no punches were thrown. The referee broke the fight up, and then Chase went to tell his coach what happened.

McCaig went to the referee to chat and was told that the referee heard the slur and that a penalty would be noted. That's when a major brawl broke out between the two teams.

McCaig said he tried to break up the fight and pull his players out of the scrum when he got shoved onto the ice.

The assistant coach filed a police complaint in the following days.

Now that the case is progressing, McCaig said he has mixed emotions. He said it's a shame it happened in the first place but hopes authorities taking the matter seriously sends a clear message that any violence in Quebec minor hockey will not be tolerated.

"It's minor hockey, for God's sake. If you want to act with such behaviour, there's the UFC you can go and be a part of and ultimate fighting championships, and there's a league for that," said McCaig. "This is children's hockey. How on Earth can you justify acting with such violence and aggression on a sheet of ice full of our children? It doesn't make any sense."

Belanger is suspended for the rest of the hockey season, pending the outcome of the court case.

He is expected back in court on May 5.