So where is the line between trying to win a championship and undermining the spirit of competition?

Quietly, that was the question being asked around the MTS IcePlex in the aftermath of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League round-robin game between the Westwood Warriors and Collège Jeanne-Sauvé Olympiens Thursday.

In that game, the Westwood coaches, looking to better position their team for a coming semifinal, pulled their goaltender with a slim one-score lead late in the game, allowing the Olympiens to score two empty-net goals to win the contest.

By losing the game, Westwood avoided the high-octane Oak Park team and set up a rematch with the lower-seeded Jeanne-Sauvé club.

Onlookers screamed foul, even after a decision was made to have the Warriors and Raiders play in a tie-breaker to determine who advanced to the next round (Oak Park beat Westwood 4-1 Friday).

The Westwood coaches — both suspended for the remainder of the season by WHSHL president Mike Wake — threw the game, but more than a few people around the rink for the WHSHL semifinals Saturday provided a defence for what Ryan Butterfield and Jim West did.

The case for the coaches is simple: By beating Oak Park earlier in the round-robin style tournament, they earned the right to choose whom they wanted to face in the semifinal.

“They (the coaches) saw an opportunity to be able to dictate who they wanted to play in the next game and they wanted the easier match-up against Jeanne-Sauvé,” one coach said Saturday, wishing to remain anonymous. “I don’t blame them… they’re trying to win a championship and it wasn’t against the rules.”

The argument is valid but the action does fly in the face of what high school sport is all about, says Morris Glimcher, executive director of the Manitoba High School Athletics Association, the governing body for high school sports.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard of something like this,” Glimcher said. “The closest thing we’ve come to something like this is when a team beats another club by 70 points in football or basketball — but nothing like this.”

Glimcher said pulling the goalie with a lead to intentionally lose the game is an obvious two-hand slash to the integrity of the sport.

The MHSAA has a code of conduct and contained within that is a fair-play policy, an ethical expectations guide covering nine different groups within high school athletics. The first point listed for coaches is this: “Always set a good example for participants and fans to follow, exemplifying the highest moral and ethical behaviour.”

While Butterfield and West didn’t break any WHSHL rules, they certainly didn’t abide by the code of conduct set out by the MHSAA.

Glimcher said he plans to review the policy, adding new language may be added to cover off this unusual chain of events over the last few days.

“We are actually working on an education program for first-year coaches that is scheduled to be delivered in September,” he said.

“This wasn’t a part of it but now it will be.”