A Winnipeg minor hockey player was benched for his team’s season finale Saturday after his parents filed a defamation lawsuit naming a South Winnipeg Hockey Association (SWHA) board member as a defendant.

The association made the decision to indefinitely suspend the boy and his parents, Elena Russo Rusak and Corey Rusak, from all league-related activities on Thursday, after they submitted a statement of claim at Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Tuesday against Hiten Shah, vice-president with the hockey association.

“It’s heartbreaking on so many levels,” Russo Rusak said.

“It’s not even about hockey. Every child deserves to do what they want to do and none of them should ever be penalized and be used as a pawn,” she said.

The suit alleges the couple’s reputation has been damaged and their character has been impugned after Shah sent an email to 17 families in the team on Dec. 23 that was “defamatory, untrue and was maliciously stated” with intent to disparage Rusak and Russo Rusak.

In his email, included in the lawsuit, Shah said the association investigated several concerns raised by members of the team, including a complaint involving the couple. 

The email noted Rusak and Russo Rusak, who served as the team’s assistant coach and co-manager respectively, used inappropriate language and made threats in accosting a coach after a game on Dec. 14.  

After interviewing three families who were present during the incident, parent misconduct was found to have occurred and both parents were stripped of their roles with the team, according to Shah’s email.

“They fired us publicly in an email that went to every parent,” Rusak said. “We found out when every other parent found out,” Russo Rusak added.

Rusak told CBC he called the coach out after the game to “stop benching the kids” and yelling at them, but he denied threatening or using inappropriate language. 

“I’m trying to keep the kids safe, that’s my job, when you take these courses as assistant coach,” Rusak said.

CBC News has reached out to Shah, but hasn’t heard back. None of the allegations have been tested in court and no statement of defence has been filled yet. 

Suspension not taken ‘lightly’: SWHA

Days after the lawsuit was filed, Steve Mason, president of the South Winnipeg Hockey Association sent a letter to the couple via email that said the association had made the decision to indefinitely suspend them and their son from all league-related activities.

“He should be at a game right now, his last playoff game and he’s not. He’s sitting on the couch by himself right now, playing Fortnite,” Russo Rusak said Saturday afternoon. 

By filing a statement of claim, the couple violated a Hockey Manitoba by-law, Mason said in his emailed letter, obtained by CBC. Under section 306(A), the association can indefinitely suspend one of its members from participating in any hockey activities and games, if they choose to take legal action before pursuing and exhausting an internal appeal process. 

Mason told CBC the board had three separate two-hour meetings — which didn’t involve Shah — discussing how to best address the situation.

“We really didn’t want to suspend the child as well because the child has no part in this, but we thought it was best for both parties that there was a full suspension of both the parents and the child. We didn’t take that lightly,” he said.

But Dave Hill, the lawyer representing the couple and a former minor hockey coach, said that while the hockey body might want for an appeal process to be launched before a lawsuit, it doesn’t apply from his view on this case.

“This is not an appeal from a decision, this is not a decision made, it is [about] an alleged defamatory remark made by the vice-president of the organization,” he said. “From my review of the documents it is not something you need to go through this appeal process.”

The plaintiffs allege they have suffered damage to their reputation in the community at large, in the team community, and that “their character and integrity have been impugned,” as a result of Shah’s email, the lawsuit says. 

The couple also claim to have been “morally and vocationally discredited” by Shah.

Hockey Winnipeg and Hockey Manitoba declined to comment on the matter because it’s before the courts. Mason, who also wouldn’t comment directly on the lawsuit, said the association’s first priority is its volunteers.

He also said the team’s head coach did his job in trying to de-escalate the situation following the Dec. 14 game.

“We have hundreds of volunteers … we need to make sure we are protecting them moving forward, and I think we’ve done the correct thing,” Mason said. “Fortunately, [the parents] made a decision.

“This all comes down to protecting everybody involved, and in order for that to happen, we needed to suspend the whole family. I don’t take pride in that. I wish we didn’t have to, but we have to protect everybody.”

‘The system has just failed him’

Hill said there’s animosity between the parents and the association, but the fallout of what’s transpired has had a “devastating” impact on the boy. 

“Their nine-year-old son’s in tears,” he said. “He’s been suspended indefinitely. Can you imagine that? A nine-year-old.”

The couple is seeking an apology and damages for an undetermined amount, according to the claim.

“They’ve had a difficult time, and ultimately we want to transfer … to another hockey association,”  Hill said. 

But the couple said they have no faith that would happen any time soon and in the meantime their son will continue to be outside of the rink — leaving the family to consider moving to a different catchment so he can play hockey. 

“I’m at a loss I don’t know what to do,” Russo Rusak said. 

“I don’t know how to pick up his spirits anymore because it’s been pretty rough for him.”