Hockey referees are supposed to break up fights, not be part of them.

Things turned ugly in a recent Canadian junior hockey league between the London Lakers and Kingsville Kings when a referee hit one of the players after both teams got into a scuffle.

While the officiating crew clears up the brawl, things get chippy between the ref in question and one of the players at the 42-second mark. The referee shoves the player and spins him around before hitting him in the face, which causes a London trainer to come running onto the ice and throw the referee down.

The video ends before we can find out what happens from there.

According to the New York Daily News, the referee has been banned from the league for life, while the trainer received an indefinite suspension (although he later stepped down from the team).

None of the players in the brawl were suspended beyond the game in question.

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