A note on player conduct

Hello Everyone,


The 2022/2023 hockey season is well underway as we are finally past any of the lockdown restrictions and anything else that can prevent us all from getting back out there, playing the sport we love. 


With that being said, we are receiving an overwhelming amount of incident reports about players, coaches and fans which involve many different violations to not only our Code of Conduct, but also the various facilities we play at and the different officiating organizations that support our leagues.

The truth is - the actions of each person at the rink DO impact all of you. This means that the decisions you make, including those taken by your friends or fans in attendance, the "coaches" on your bench, and the teammates sitting next to you in the locker room - all impact your city and the league as a whole.

If one player in your league decides to throw up on the floor or break bottles in the dressing room, every other player who didn't do that, are the ones that are at jeopardy of losing games and the ability to play hockey. When you break common sense rules...the arenas, refs, and facility staff attribute that problem to the entire LUG group (not just the person who did it). 

Some common issues that we are seeing:
  • Treat the Referees with Respect. Here is the truth, regardless of your feeling on whether or not the ref missed the call or got the call right it does not matter. This is hockey, there are always two sides to a story, and sometimes the ref does miss a call or calls too much...it is impossible to make everyone happy. Keep your composure and treat the refs with respect no matter what your feeling is to them. Finding refs today is extremely hard because no one wants to do it anymore! This is a part time job...so ask yourself, would you want to get yelled at by some university students at 11PM on a Tuesday Night as a part time?
  • Players after the game are knocking on the referee rooms, to question, comment and "discuss" their game. This is NOT something that can continue under any circumstance. When your game is over, the game is OVER. Talking is not going to change the outcome or impact. If you have an issue to complain about, or want to discuss why the call YOU think should or should NOT have been called, you can talk about it with your teammates. Not the refs and not the game day staff. If something happened that you think needs to be reviewed by the league, then send in an incident report on our website. The people physically at the facility will not have any answers or be able to change anything. 
  • NO Alcohol at the facility. We can't be more clear about this- there is NO ALCOHOL allowed at the rink. PERIOD. Just don't bring any booze. Drink at the bar, at your house, but NOT at the rink. These facilities have liquor licenses with rules that they are held to. If unlicensed alcohol is found, they will kick us out from using the rink. It's that simple. Any team that leaves empty cans, or found with alcohol will be suspended and removed from the schedule for the remainder of the year. 
  • Body Contact, Hitting and Fighting. This is NOT allowed under any circumstance. This is probably the simplest rule we have and it's the easiest to suspend and or remove players from the league for. Whether or not it was your fault, does not matter. All that matters are YOUR actions, that is all you will be judged by both in LUG and in Life... that tip is free. 
  • Fans and facilities. If you have friends or fans at the games, they must act in a respectful manner. They represent you and your team. If they show up, make a mess with garbage, spit or anything else then they are just making someone else's job harder. Be respectful to the facilities and especially their staff. Many of them are world class arena's that host concerts, Major Junior teams and many other events. 
This season so far, we have been suspending players using our previous system of 1 game minimum suspensions. As a result of the current state of the behaviour, we will be increasing minimum game suspensions and engaging in a zero tolerance policy for repeat offenders. 

BOTTOM LINE - DO NOT END UP AS SOMEONE LISTED ON AN INCIDENT REPORT OR YOU LIKELY WON'T BE PLAYING MUCH HOCKEY THIS SEASON.

We know that 99% of you are great and it really is the 1% who are causing 99% of the problems however we will not let the 1% cause LUG and the rest of the community to lose their ice contracts.


Thanks,

LUG Sports