Gross Misconduct

A Mother’s Love Story

Tragedy Courage Resilience Hope

“One cold winter’s day, my life’s trajectory tragically and unimaginably changed in an instant... forever!”
- Tracy Stark, Mother of Radek and Ryder

Early on a Monday morning in December 2016, Tracy Stark and her husband Brent discover that Tracy’s sons, Ryder, 13, and Radek, 11, are absent from school and are not answering their phones. When Tracy and Brent go to the home of her ex-husband to investigate, they are met by a life-shattering scene. Ryder and Radek have been murdered... by their biological father, who then shot and killed himself.

Surrounded by the love and support of her shocked community and grieving friends and family, Tracy enlists the assistance of trauma therapist Sandra Young Kolbuc to help process her post-traumatic stress responses, her bottomless grief and learn to manage her devastating new reality.

In April of 2019, Tracy asked her therapist for guidance to recount her story and that of her two precious sons to bring awareness for the need to change societal attitudes and systems that she believes failed them all. These radiant boys were full of life and passionately loved not only hockey, but their Mama as well.

Gross Misconduct – Hitting from Behind, chronicles a mother’s journey from utter devastation to finding a measure of peace and purpose, meaning and mastery in the days, months and years following the death of her children.