Terry Litt, hockey dad, given conditional discharge for threatening child

Terry Litt, a Burnaby, B.C. hockey dad, has been sentenced for threatening a nine-year-old player on his son's hockey team.

Litt, 57, pleaded guilty to uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm to his son Jordan's teammate Rocky Bhala and was sentenced Thursday to a conditional discharge with 12 months probation. 

The argument started among the two hockey players after a game at the Karen Magnussen Arena in North Vancouver on Feb. 21 and then escalated when Litt intervened. 

In court, it was revealed the children had often had physical confrontations in the past.

"Jordan, every time he'd see me, he'd give me a little punch. I kept telling him to stop but he would never listen, but one day when he was having trouble taking off his jersey, I punched him," Rocky told CBC News. 

That's when Jordan's father, who was in the change room, yelled at him. 

"He said, 'Don't touch my f--king kid or I'll kill you,' and he repeated that two to three times," Rocky said. "If two kids have an argument, they should let them settle it, and not spazz out at the kids if something happened." 

Rocky said he was traumatized and scared.

Hockey dad took anger management courses

Litt's lawyer argued in court that the outburst was completely out of character. Litt took six weeks of anger management courses after the incident, has no criminal history and acknowledged in court that there's no excuse for what he did.

Along with making an apology to Rocky, Litt must also avoid contact with him and his family as well as seek counselling if directed to by probation officer.

"It's apparent he lost his cool in the change room," the judge said, adding it was unlikely Litt would be before the courts again. As a result. he received a conditional discharge with 12 months' probation.  

Rocky's father, Ron Bhala, who wasn't in the locker room at the time of the incident, said he's satisfied with the outcome.

"I hope this can serve as a lesson that you can't just attack a nine-year-old boy at the time and get away with it," said Bhala. 

He remains upset with the Burnaby Winter Club, saying the coaches in the change room who witnessed the incident didn't protect his son.

Lesson for hockey parents 

Players and coaches say it's a lesson for everyone. 

"We're there for the kids to have fun and be there to be involved with organized sports, not there to get into battles with he said she said and all that aggressiveness," said Dan Melanson of the Burnaby Winter Club Minor Hockey Association

Litt has had difficulty enrolling his son in other hockey clubs since the incident, although Jordan now plays for another team.

Rocky had to see a psychologist for months, but is now back playing hockey.