An Edmonton hockey dad is telling his side of the story after he was banned from watching his son play for six weeks.

The city’s hockey association, Hockey Edmonton, suspended Dave Hinteregger in February after he lost his temper during one his son’s games. He told CTV Edmonton on Wednesday he started shouting at the referees after he saw a player get smashed against the boards.

“It was ‘Get your head out of your butt’ kind of a thing or ‘Someone else is going to the hospital’,” he recalled.

Hinteregger said he was so emotional because two days earlier he had witnessed a player receive a hard hit from another player, which broke the teenager’s pelvis in three places.

“The frustrating part of it was to have a ref say, ‘I never saw it’ and there’s a child within ten feet of them that’s crumpled up in a ball,” the hockey dad said.

The hockey dad admitted that screaming at the referees was the wrong thing to do, but said he would still like to see some changes in the league’s officiating. He thinks the referees should receive more training and that linesmen should also be allowed to make calls during the game.

“There should be three guys out there with armbands,” Hinteregger said. “If that’s what it takes to get things under control where kids aren’t getting hurt.”

Stefan Brown, the chair of the North Zone Referees Committee, said there are other ways for parents to voice their concerns about the game than screaming at the officiating staff.

“We encourage parents to wait 24 hours before contacting their team management to submit a complaint on their behalf,” Brown explained. “If this is done, we’re aware of potential coaching needs with certain officials and we can take care of them.”

The committee’s information on protocol comes a little too late for Hinteregger. He will be unable to pursue that avenue the next time he has a grievance because his six-week suspension lasts until the end of the current season and his son will be too old for minor hockey the following year.

“It’s been tough not to go and watch and be there to support them,” Hinteregger said.

With a report from CTV Edmonton’s Angela Jung