A minor hockey league coach has filed a defamation lawsuit over what he calls a frivolous abuse lawsuit.
Mike Nicoll’s lawyer says his client is a respected coach who is a victim of a malicious and vindictive defamation campaign from a disgruntled parent angry that their child was not receiving enough ice time. Nicoll is launching a million-dollar defamation suit against the parents to seek damages.
Nicoll alleges that Andrew Moorhouse, the father of the child became physically aggressive with Nicoll and openly threatened to destroy his career on numerous occasions to various individuals because he was dissatisfied with his son’s ice time.
The parents subsequently launched a lawsuit seeking $2 million in damages, alleging their son was battered and abused by the coach during a team practice.
“There are many witnesses that in no way support such a claim. The frivolous and malicious lawsuit was covered by the CBC and TSN and named the coach publicly as a child abuser,” said the press release.
Moorhouse submitted a formal complaint to the Children’s Aid Society. Nicoll was cleared of all allegations and the case was closed.
Phillip Millar, Nicoll’s lawyer, told True North that his client is a quiet and reserved man and that the other parents reached out to the lawyer to represent the coach.
“They were like, ‘this is nonsense. Somebody’s got to take care of this coach from this rogue parent,’” said Millar.
Millar said he has raised four kids and seen parents who take things too seriously, but this is on the extreme end of the spectrum.
“I’ve been doing this for a while, and it’s kind of one of the most mind-boggling cases to make a claim that is so easily refutable,” said Millar.
Nicoll is a coach for the under-13 Huron Perth Lakers hockey AAA team.
The coaching staff initially assessed that the child needed to improve his skating skills to be successful on the team, which led to the coach offering free, private coaching lessons to the player.
During the 11 team practices before the start of the 2023 season, the child was moved from defence to forward because his backward skating skills were not sufficient for the AAA level.
On Oct. 13, 2023, the coach drove an hour to conduct a private skating session with the defendant’s son to help improve his skating skills. Two days later, after the conclusion of a game, the defendants submitted a complaint to the Association Executive about their son not getting enough ice time.
During a weekend tournament less than a week later, Andrew Moorehouse allegedly continuously approached other team parents and told them he would ensure the coaches would never coach again.
AAA hockey is competitive, and players are not guaranteed equal ice time. Players’ ice time is based on their performance, which was made clear at a preseason talk and emailed to the parents on Sept. 30, 2023.
During the walk to the dressing room, Moorhouse allegedly threatened the coach and bumped into his shoulder. The coach warned him that continuing the behaviour would result in his son being suspended for future games. The father continued to raise his voice, leading a coaching staff volunteer to close the dressing room door as players became distraught.
“Andrew continued yelling at the Plaintiff and at one point referenced knocking the Plaintiff out in front of witnesses,” reads the statement.
On Nov. 30, 2024, the Moorhouses filed a lawsuit seeking $2 million in damages against the coach and co-defendants, claiming their son was battered and abused.
These claims have not been proven in court.
Nicoll’s statement claims that the alleged battery is an exaggeration of an incident during a team practice. The defendants’ son allegedly did not properly check over his shoulder during a drill and crashed into the coach. He suffered no injuries and required no medical aid. The claim says he then completed the drill successfully after Nicoll encouraged him to do a proper shoulder check next time.
“None of the other players, parents, or the coaching staff raised any concerns about this incident at the time or afterwards,” reads the statement. It added that the incident falls well within the range of accidental contact expected to occur in hockey.
“The incident was in no way a malicious act by the Plaintiff, but it has been manipulated by the Defendants into an outrageous battery on a child in an attempt to ruin his career,” reads the statement.
According to the statement, the defendants have been involved in competitive hockey for at least seven years.
“They knew or ought to have known that the Plaintiff’s contact with their son during the practice was an unintended result of their son failing at the awareness drill and not battery,” said the statement.
According to Nicoll’s statement, the defendants repeated most, if not all, highly damaging false statements about the coach in the lawsuit to multiple third parties, including the Association Executive, CBC London, and the Children’s Aid Society, which Nicoll claims has led to “depression, anxiety, stress, and has greatly affected (his) ability to lead an active social life under the cloud of unfounded allegations and investigations.”
The claims have not been proven in court.
True North reached out to the defendants’ lawyer but received no response.
