Verbal abuse goes too far for Cape Breton hockey officials

N.S. referees speak out after alleged verbal abuse A video taken at a youth hockey game in Cape Breton appears to show adults verbally abusing the referees. Kyle Moore reports.

Verbal abuse from the stands has two Hockey Nova Scotia officials contemplating their future on the ice.

For 17 years, Clayton Floyd has been officiating hockey, but after working a game on the weekend, he's wondering if this year might be his last.

“Out of my 17 years, that's the one game I’ve contemplated, is the abuse worth it anymore?” said Floyd.

In a video obtained by CTV News, swearing directed at the officials can be heard coming from the stands during a U13-AAA playoff game on Saturday at the County Arena in Coxheath, N.S.

It got so bad, that Floyd says he eventually had to throw a fan out of the rink. It all happened during a game involving players 13 years of age and younger.

“The last year or so have been the worst I found as a referee,” said Floyd.

Twenty-year-old Keigan Nicholson was also wearing the stripes with Floyd on the weekend.

“When I’m told I’m doing a bad job, it kind of hurts, and it definitely makes me question whether I want to keep doing this,” said Nicholson.

Nicholson is in his seventh year as an official.

“At the younger levels, parents still believe the kids are making the NHL and they expect a lot out of us, so at the younger level, it's almost worse,” he said.

Canada has more than 30,000 referees, linesman and other game officials working in hockey. According to Hockey Nova Scotia, more than 10,000 quit each year, largely because of verbal abuse.

A new program launched by Hockey Nova Scotia last year features a green armband to signal to fans and coaches that some of the on-ice officials are only children.

However, some officials feel more still needs to be done.

“I'm not sure if it's because of COVID with everyone stuck inside and not being able to watch games, but there's multiple incidents this year where I’ve been in the rink and have seen fans getting ejected,” said Floyd.

CTV News reached out to Hockey Nova Scotia about Saturday's game, but information wasn't available by publish time.