United States Premier Hockey League player, Paul Halloran, of the South Shore Kings has been slapped with a lifetime ban from the League and might face criminal charges for hitting a referee after being ejected from a game last week.
See the clip below. The referee is clearly upset with something Halloran said or did and emphatically orders him off the ice. As the player made his way across the ice, he stopped to sucker-punch the official. Huge no-no.
Former NHL referee turned ESPN Rules Analyst, Dave Jackson, took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with the incident:
I can't believe there are comments on here justifying this sucker-punch. This is an inexcusable act and it's why we're losing minor hockey officials at an alarming rate. Imagine that was your son or daughter officiating.
-Dave Jackson, @ESPNRefNHL
Shortly after the game, USPHL Commissioner, Bob Turow, issued the following statement:
The Commissioner went on to add that the incident is being investigated by local law enforcement authorities.
