’’I want to be clear about a couple of things,’’ said Milbury. ’’No one was punched, kicked, or assaulted in any way. I know the ’Mad Mike’ image that I have and all that. I love the game, I’m passionate about it, but I don’t smack kids around. I grabbed the other kid by the sweater to stop a fight and, yeah, I swore at him. That’s it. That’s what I did.
’’And ..... this was also after watching my kid get verbally bullied by the other player for over two hours. It was the third time that night that Jake and the kid got into it, and that was the last straw for Jake. I mean, what kid can take that?’’
In an exclusive interview with the Globe that lasted some two hours at a hotel near Milbury’s Needham home, the ex-Bruins defenseman, coach, and assistant general manager said he felt he had little recourse but to pull the boys apart as they skirmished in the moments leading up to an end-of-the-night shootout at the ’’Winter Classic’’ event that he and his wife sponsored at Larz Anderson Park.
Before the shootout, it was that fight that Milbury contends was triggered by the verbal abuse directed at his son that led him to grab the player on the opposing team by the sweater and swear at him — actions that soon will be reviewed by a Brookline District Court clerk magistrate to determine if the 59-year-old Milbury must face legal charges.
’’I am not going to cry over my reaction [on the ice],’’ said Milbury, both glib and forthright in his first comments about the incident, which became public on Friday. ’’At the same time, I understand the culture and implication and conclusion some would draw from this.’’
By Milbury’s account, he was acting as both a parent defending his bullied child and as an assistant coach concerned about the safety of both players when he helped defuse the dust-up between his son, and the player wearing No. 10 for the Everett-based Boston Jr. Blackhawks. The Blackhawks’ website identifies No. 10 only as ’’Zach.’’
