Former NHL referee Tim Peel reportedly 'berated' teenage youth hockey officials

Hockey fanatics familiar with former NHL official Tim Peel likely think of how often the referee was criticized for a variety of perceived missed calls, or the numerous controversies that plagued the final years of his career.

On Friday, The Athletic’s Sean Gentille reported the eyebrow-raising claims that Peel "berated" two 17-year-old officials after a youth hockey game in St. Louis on Jan. 15.

Peel was reportedly upset because the young referees ejected former NHL players Matt Lashoff and Jamal Mayers, co-coaches of one of the teams his son plays on.

The account details how Peel seemed to calm down a bit during his lengthy tirade once someone took out a phone to record him, but still kept going for as long as 15 minutes.

Those officials also detailed incidents of parents screaming obscenities at the players, who were no older than 10-years-old.

Gentille reports that representatives responded to accusations made against Peel, resulting in some strange consequences:

Neither SafeSport, Missouri Hockey nor USA Hockey contacted either boy’s parents, the families said. SafeSport and Missouri Hockey did not respond to a request for comment from The Athletic. Peel was eventually suspended from coaching for 30 days, despite not being a coach; barred from the referees’ room for two years, despite not being a referee; and placed on probation for two years, but not prohibited from watching games from the stands, according to McGlynn, Boren and Missouri Ice Hockey Officials Association board member Andrew Bethmann.

On Feb. 5, the officials’ families filed a police report. While Peel didn’t speak with Gentille, Peel’s lawyer Travis Noble claimed that the report is “inaccurate” and that Peel “would never berate, chastise or say anything less than encouraging to a young referee.”

Some may also take this as an opportunity to recall Peel’s many NHL misadventures. Greg Wyshynski, now with ESPN, chronicled the polarizing presence of Peel to the point that a bar meeting between the two in 2016 became a story in itself after photos of a "well-served" Peel went viral online. In what was already going to be his last season in 2021, Peel got caught profanely admitting to penalizing the Nashville Predators for a make-up call, ending his final season early after the NHL decided to suspend him for the rest of the season.

Not to be forgotten, Peel also made waves on Twitter in 2022 when he posted the word “KARMA!” after Nazem Kadri was injured by an Evander Kane hit in the playoffs. Peel deleted the tweet, but the damage was done.

And now there are these strange accusations regarding Peel allegedly berating 17-year-old youth hockey officials, likely embarrassing himself and everybody else involved.