Son of Current NHL Coach Makes Controversial Gesture While Being Ejected

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TJ Tucker
February 17, 2024 (8:01)

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I'm not sure I've seen one like this in a while. It was more common in the 1980s, when fans would regularly sing "Three Blind Mice" to officials during a hockey game, but you don't see it in many pro leagues any more. An ECHL player, who happens to be the son of a current NHL coach, is being praised and criticized after making a controversial gesture directed at the officials while being kicked out of the game.

26-year-old Peter Laviolette III, son of Peter Laviolette Jr., current head coach of the New York Rangers, was being ejected from a game when he put his hands over his eyes and used his stick as a cane in the way a blind person would.

"Peter Laviolette, son of the New York Rangers head coach, won't be making any friends with the refs after this display as he left the ice. Lavy III plays for the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers."

Scouting the Refs is right, this isn't going to be looked on favourably by officials with the ECHL. It's also creating some debate online over whether the gesture is offensive to people living with vision issues. There's no word on whether he might be punished by the league for his actions.

Laviolette III, 26, has been with the Wheeling Nailers for the past two seasons after coming up through the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference hockey program with Plymouth State University.