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Crowd hurls vile chants at female goalie as high school hockey game turns ugly

Pittsburgh-area students have been banned from attending their school's hockey games and may face further discipline after the crowd hurled vulgar and sexual chants towards a female goalie. (Getty)
Pittsburgh-area students have been banned from attending their school's hockey games and may face further discipline after the crowd hurled vulgar and sexual chants towards a female goalie. (Getty)

(Note: This story contains accounts and footage of sexual harassment.)

The corrosive nature of hockey culture has been exposed throughout the past year, and it’s no different at the high school level, unfortunately.

During a Thursday game between Pittsburgh-area Armstrong High School and Mars Hockey Club, a number of Armstrong students participated in sexually explicit chants directed at a female goaltender on the Mars team, leaving the unnamed goaltender in tears.

As a subsequent result of the chants, all Armstrong students have been banned from attending hockey games, while the students who allegedly participated in the chants may face further disciplinary action.

“In my mind, this should’ve been stopped immediately by anyone that was there who has any moral value at all. I’m disgusted by it. … There were a lot of people there who could’ve handled this differently,” Armstrong principal Kirk Lorigan said via Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Mars head coach Steve Meyers said the player that was targeted is the only goaltender on the roster, while noting that she has been the starter for all of the team’s five games this season.

“We have no one else. She plays varsity and JV for us. We’ve had plenty of girls in this league before and never heard anything like this. With all the training we’re required to do as coaches about safe sports and sportsmanship, this should not happen. For it to fail this badly, it’s really disappointing.”

Below is a video of the vulgar chant directed from the Armstrong students, and we don’t necessarily advise watching it.

It’s become all too commonplace for the pervasive nature of abuse and sexual harassment to rear its ugly head in hockey, and this is yet another incident within the sport where hockey has failed to protect its most vulnerable actors.

We can only hope that the victim finds some peace, while those who participated in this gross chant are swiftly punished.

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