Second man charged in post-game scrap at Alberta youth hockey tournament

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – A second man has been charged after an attack on a referee and a coach at a recent youth hockey tournament in Lethbridge, Alta.

Police say a 36-year-old man they had been seeking turned himself in Sunday evening, hours after the on-ice scrap at the three-on-three tournament

Todd William Cross Child, a 36-year-old Lethbridge resident, is facing two counts of assault and has been released on a promise to appear in court Oct. 9.

Robert Farrell Creighton, a 55-year-old resident of Standoff, Alta., was previously charged with assault and will appear in court the same day.

Police have previously said a player got into a verbal spat with a referee, which escalated to the youth striking the official twice with his stick and the ref pushing the player to the ice.

A group of coaches and a relative of the player then walked onto the ice, where a coach from the opposing team was allegedly shoved down and the ref was punched multiple times by the relative and a second man before the fight ended.

The annual Quest for the Cup tournament involved players between the ages of seven and 12 and was organized by the Lethbridge-based skills development business High Performance Hockey.

This just happened in #Lethbridge tonight. From what I’ve been told it was a 10 year old 3 on 3 tournament where a player slashed a ref. My source tells me the ref responded in a physical way (some are saying self defence) & this happened. Reaching out to organizer for more info pic.twitter.com/mlsZs8nNuE

— Dean Millard (@DuckMillard) September 9, 2019