Canucks fan says misogyny a factor after man belittled her cheering at a game

On the night the Vancouver Canucks honoured former player Kevin Bieksa, it was important for Richmond's Hayley Montes to be in the building -- but she didn't anticipate a verbal conflict with another fan.

"I picked that game because Kevin Bieksa was my favourite player growing up," Montes said.

She enjoyed the pregame ceremony, and was loudly cheering the team on as the Canucks and Anaheim Ducks played an entertaining, high-scoring game.

But an interaction with a fan sitting in front of her that took place late in the game overshadowed an otherwise great night.

"He turned to me and he said I'm going to need you to shut the f**k up because I need to focus," she said. "And I looked at him and I was like, 'Wow, you're crazy!'"

She doesn't think the other fan would have spoken to her in the manner he did if she were a man.

She says a short time later he turned around to speak to her again and when she didn't acknowledge him, he grabbed her knee and held onto it while clumsily attempting an apology.

"I said 'Don't touch me. I don't want to talk to you,'" Montes told CTV News.

After the game, she posted about the exchange on Twitter.

"This man really went out of his way to intimidate me and basically belittle who I was as a person all for cheering for my favourite team," the post said.

Shortly after she shared the story online, staff from Rogers Arena reached out to Montes to learn more about the experience.

She says the team's vice president of fan experience offered her tickets to a pair of future games and reassured her the organization doesn't take incidents of fan abuse lightly.

"We take these matters very seriously and firmly believe all fans have the right to express themselves and show their support for the team without incident," Wynn Moody, Canucks Sports and said in a statement.

Moody also encourages any fan who experiences inappropriate behaviour at a Rogers Arena event to contact the nearest staff member or call the fan services line at 604-899-7400.

Montes appreciates the way the team and the arena responded to her complaint but says the situation has still left her feeling rattled.

She says the situation is an example of the kind of misogyny in sports directed at female fans, journalists and athletes.

"I was pretty nervous to start tweeting again," Montes said. "Especially because people when they see that you're a woman they're like, 'Oh my goodness. What do you know?'"