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Hockey dad attacks 14-year-old player on ice, arrested for child abuse say police

Greg Wyshynski

On his website, Dr. Matthew Supran lists himself as the team chiropractor for the Palm Beach Hawks, a youth hockey team in Florida.

Perhaps he was just looking to give a 14-year-old player on an opposing team a vertebrae adjustment when he went out on the ice on Sunday, allegedly began pummeling his head and was subsequently arrested by Palm Beach County police. But we’re guessing that’s not the case.

According to police report and via the Sun-Sentinel, Supran’s son was elbowed in the head during the afternoon game and that enraged this hockey dad:

The referee told deputies that the play was not "malicious," and he gave the victim a five-minute penalty. The younger Supran fell to the ice after being hit, the report states.

That's when the victim and witnesses say Matthew Supran ran on the ice and punched the victim in the face, then grabbed the teen by the helmet and slammed his head into the boards around the rink. Supran then fell on top of the teen, according to the report.

The referee and a coach had to "pull the defendant off of the player," a deputy wrote in the report.

Again: a 44-year-old man, who stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs 230 pounds, went onto the ice and allegedly punched a child in the face.

This is why hockey can’t ever have nice things.

Police arrested him at his Delray chiropractic office and charged him with child abuse. Supran was released on $3,000 bail.

The alleged 14-year-old victim's mother Kristy Cardieri told WPTV that, “The parents get really worked up at these games. A lot of them say and do things they shouldn't do. But this went to a whole new level.”

She continued: "It is our job as parents to teach them how to behave and unfortunately now it is my job to teach my son that it is not okay to let an adult hit him.”

What a world.