To Kill at a Children’s Game

On July 5, 2000, a fight erupted at a hockey game in Reading, Massachusetts. It started much the same way as any hockey fight starts: one pugilist says something derogatory to the other, prompting a response; each steps into the other's face; one takes a swing and the brawl begins. Only this hockey fight wasn't on the ice. And when the conflict ended, one of the combatants lay comatose only to die the next day.

On that summer day, following an informal boys hockey practice, the fight took place between a player's father and the coach. Thomas Junta (pictured right), the 270-pound spectator, was angry with the extreme hard-hitting scrimmage that was being exercised by the players under the tutelage of 158-pound Michael Costin, the coach, who had three sons of his own participating in the exhibition.

Following the practice, Junta and Costin began verbally accosting each other before the two grappled briefly. The scrap was broken up, and Junta was asked to wait outside by rink management.

What happened next was dubious, as various witnesses produced disputed testimony. However, this much is certain: Junta came back inside. And through an indeterminate source of re-instigation, Junta and Costin began a more violent fight. Because of the one-sided size difference, the brawny Junta took Costin and threw him to the ground; then Junta straddled the fallen coach and proceeded to beat his pinned enemy to death. To death.

The gathered crowd produced no cheers of approval, as would occur during an on-ice fight. Indeed, the witnesses - some of whom were the children who participated in that day's game - shrieked for the two to stop, for the big man to cease pummeling the unconscious little man. But it was too late for Costin.

Doctors determined that a vital artery in Costin's neck was torn, rupturing the source of his brain's blood supply. Costin died the next day. Witnesses determined that Junta, atop of his opponent's back, incessantly pounded Costin's head into the ground until a college hockey player finally broke up the lopsided brawl. A jury determined that Junta acted with malicious excess force yet without the intent to kill Costin and found the big man guilty of involuntary manslaughter on January 11. A judge sentenced him to six to ten years on January 25.

The fight at that ice rink in small town Reading between disgruntled parent and defensive coach; the death of that coach by a player's father; the trial that excelled to the forefront of the news - all of it equates to a tragic elevation of everyday parents' nonsensical obsession with their children's sport activities. Hockey was merely the vehicle for the confrontation between Junta and Costin. (It could have been baseball or beach volleyball.) Nevertheless, parental intrusions no longer peak at mere obscene caterwauling towards referees, coaches or opposing players. Now it's advanced to the topmost plateau of murder.

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