This Is What Happens When Parents Take Hockey Rivalries Seriously

An elementary school in St-Leonard opted to cancel a Montreal Canadiens jersey day scheduled for today rather than allow some students to wear the shirts of their playoff rivals, the Boston Bruins.

Officials at Honoré-Mercier Elementary School decided to cancel the game day alternative to school uniforms after a parent complained that an 11-year-old Boston fan was told to remove her Bobby Orr shirt on a previous Habs jersey day.

The girl’s father, Tony Pasquale, didn’t make the complaint himself, but he agrees that telling his daughter that she couldn’t wear her Bruins jersey was not the right approach.

“She’s been a Boston Bruins fan all her life, so she kinda felt really bad. She felt kind of excluded from the school,” Pasquale told CBC News.

English Montreal School Board spokesman Mike Cohen said the school did the right thing by cancelling its jersey day.

“We don’t think it’s prudent for a student to wear a Boston Bruins jersey in a school during this very intensive playoff play,” Cohen said.

“At this stage in the game, with the Canadiens leading the series 2-1, why ignite things, why create a controversy?” he added.

Pasquale questioned the school board’s logic, saying it should be encouraging students to accept differences of opinion and learn to get along in spite of them.

“And it teaches respect, sportsmanship. We can’t all be from the same thread,” he said.

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I would never wear a Bruins jersey anywhere, but that’s for reasons I’ve already stated.   She can wear it if she wants to.  They’re taking this way too seriously.  Then again, that’s the way with most silly things in this world.  I won’t give other examples though because that would get off topic pretty quickly.  Why can’t they all wear their jerseys and have fun for a change?