Mike Milbury, the former Bruins player and coach as well as Islanders GM who is now an analyst for Versus, NBC and NESN as well as occassional guest on Hockey Night in Canada, has been charged with assaulting a 12-year-old hockey player in Brookline, Mass. The report first came from CBSBoston.com.
The Boston Herald has more information on the details of what happened.
A statement on Milbury's behalf was released today by his lawyer, Daniel Rabinovitz.Police today said they have charged Milbury with assault and battery on a child, threats to commit a crime and disorderly conduct in connection with his alleged verbal and physical attack on a 12-year-old boy during a pee-wee exhibition hockey game last Friday night at the town-owned Larz Andersen Rink in Brookline.
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The incident allegedly occurred at the end of the Winter Classic between the Boch Blazers for whom Milbury coaches and his son plays forward vs. the Boston Junior Black Hawks. It is alleged that after Milbury’s son and a player for the Black Hawks got into a scrape on the ice, Milbury charged out onto the rink and verbally berated and grabbed and shook the 12-year-old opposing player.
“Mike Milbury denies any allegations that there was an assault of any kind. He simply intervened in an altercation between his son and an opposing player. No one was struck, no one was injured and no one was threatened.”
NBC, which owns and operates Versus (soon to become NBC Sports Network) also released a statement ont he accusations.
“We are aware of the story and are gathering the facts. We will not have any further statements until we know more information," NBC said.
If true -- and I accentuate that, he has only been charged at this point -- I don't think it will catch many by surprise. Milbury has long been recognized for his temper, among other things. Perhaps no moment was more infamous than the time that the whole Bruins team he played for climbed into the stands in a game against the Rangers and Milbury was seen ripping off the shoe of a fan and then hitting the fan with said shoe.
He didn't earn the nickname Mad Mike Milbury for nothing.
As an analyst, Milbury has been just about as controversial as he was a GM for the Islanders, albeit for different reasons. Milbury isn't looked upon too fondly by the Isles fans after what they view was a colossal failure as his time leading their franchise.
On TV, he's probably about as disliked by the viewers as he was the fans of the Islanders. He has been known to get loud and argumentative on the air as well as taking a lot of unpopular stances. But he's always been consistent. He has and continues to stand up for the rough side of the sport.
I'll just say what a wacky couple of days in Massachusetts for non-professional hockey. First there was the story about a player pooping in another player's glove, now this. Also, you might remember another hockey analyst, Matthew Barnaby, was arrested for DWI.
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