RINK RAGE!!!

Nearly 4 years after the rink-rage death of one hockey dad at the hands of another, a Swampscott father has been banned indefinitely from attending local youth hockey games after witnesses said he grabbed an 8-year-old around the neck and cursed at him following the boy's on-ice shoving match with the man's son.
A Peabody magistrate is scheduled to decide next week whether Jordan Waldman, 51, will face assault charges in what state youth hockey officials say is the most egregious incident since they adopted stricter rules for parental conduct in 2003 after Thomas F. Junta beat Michael Costin to death during a 2000 youth hockey practice in Reading.
Kevin Holt of Salem, whose son plays for the Salem-Swampscott team, said last night that he saw Waldman grab Cameron Byrne by the shirt at his neckline and yank him forward after a game Dec. 26, saying something like, "Keep your hands off my kid."
"He sounded real mad, and he grabbed him pretty hard," Holt said. "I was just amazed."
"I'm just glad it wasn't my kid that he grabbed," Holt added. "There'd be two of us going to court."
Tim Byrne, Cameron's father, who filed a criminal complaint against Waldman, said his son confirmed the account.
Waldman did not return calls yesterday seeking comment.
At least three parents quickly intervened, Byrne said, pushing Waldman away from Byrne's son.
Holt was in the locker room picking up his son's goalie equipment after the altercation and said he also witnessed Waldman attempting an apology. "He was saying: 'Oh, Cam, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to,' " Holt said. "The kid was pretty scared."
Cameron's mother saw Waldman with her son and "freaked out," Holt said. He said that Waldman touched Cameron's mother, apparently trying to comfort her, and she warned him not to touch her.
"The bottom line is, no matter what the kids were doing, an adult just can't touch a kid like that," Tim Byrne, 38, said yesterday. "You just can't. He should have gone over to the coach or even talked to my wife if he thought my kid was doing something."
After a league disciplinary hearing Tuesday, Waldman was banned from attending all Salem-Swampscott Youth Hockey League games. Waldman -- who did not attend the hearing but could appeal to Massachusetts Hockey, the state youth hockey association -- subsequently pulled his son from the league, officials said.
As for his son, Byrne said, "he just wants to know when it's going to be over."