PeeWee Coach Sentenced to Jail for Tripping Hockey Player

Feb. 28, 2013— -- A Pee-Wee hockey coach in Vancouver is facing 15 days behind bars after he tripped a 13-year-old boy during a postgame handshake.

A video of the game shows Martin Tremblay, 48, tripping the boy, causing him to break his wrist and fall on top of his 10-year-old teammate.

The coach pleaded guilty to one count of assault in November. Tremblay expected to walk out of the courtroom with a warning this week, but instead was given a harsher sentence by Judge Patrick Chen than the prosecutors had recommended.

"It certainly sends a message. To succeed in sports you often need to have passion, but you have to have control," said Bill Veenstra, president of the UBC Thunderbirds Minor Hockey Association.

Bob Bellows, Tremblay's attorney, said that the incident has affected his client's job, costing him construction contracts, volunteer jobs and his marriage.

"He put in years and years coaching hockey and that's all over, so he's paid a heavy price," said Bellows.

Bellows said they will not be appealing the decision. Tremblay will likely be sentenced to anger management classes as well.

This isn't the first time unruly coaching has been caught on tape. In 2006, assistant football coach Corey Petero attacked a 13-year-old player in Stockton, Calif., and pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor.

Last summer, a little league brawl broke out in Georgia between several fathers. It was witnessed by an umpire who called 911.