Never mess with Hockey Players

by Pete Gegick

Over the weekend, a Vancouver Canucks' player, Rick Rypien, grabbed a fan after being ejected from a game. Rypien, who has made a career out of his fighting ability and fearlessness, was suspended 6 games by the NHL for the incident.



The more interesting issue is that this is not the first time this has happened. In fact, many of these incidents have been captured on video. Here are the top 5 incidents involving fans and players getting physical with one another.

Honorable Mention: Murray Chadwick vs. fan from Thunder Bay- From a scene in the movie "Youngblood" in which the coach, Murray Chadwick, decides that he's heard enough from the two hecklers behind him, and goes out of his way to punch one of them out. Since there's no video, however, it ends up in this section. The movie is worth a rental, if just for this scene

John Tortorella vs Caps Fan-Continuing with the "Coaches vs. Fans" theme, Rangers coach John Tortorella attempted to douse out the Washington Capitals hecklers using a water bottle. However, after a different fan decided to dump a glass of beer on his head, Tortorella grabbed a stick and started swinging.



What's funnier, the broadcasters' response, or the fact that the stick Tortorella used actually belonged to one of his players? And yes, Tortorella was suspended for a game for his actions.

5) The Hanson Brothers vs. Fan with Bottle-Every hockey fan knows the Hanson brothers, the trio of forwards who leave a trail of bodies in their wake. Nothing, however, compares to when one of the brothers gets his in the face with an unknown object.

Then, all hell breaks loose.



The crazier part? In a Sports Illustrated article, it is stated that this incident actually occurred during a game, requiring the team to bail out three brothers, the Carlsons, out of prison. Coincidently, two of the Carlson brothers went on to star in Slapshot...as the Hansons.

4) Tie Domi vs. Philly-In addition to his fighting prowess, Domi was also known to play to the crowd. This incident would be no exception, as he gave the fans a shower behind the bench.

What he didn't expect, though, was to meet one of them in the box.

Domi puts him in a headlock, then reigns down a couple of blows while waiting for the refs to sort things out. According to the province.com, Domi was not suspended, but instead fined $1,000.

3) Rob Ray demolishes fan-Going on to the playing surface in any physical sport tends not to be a good idea. However, when the players on that surface know how to fight, it's probably a really bad idea to go anywhere near them. Especially when one of them is known as one of the top enforcers in the league.

Whenever two players stop fighting and watch what's going on, that's a good fight. Ray was neither suspended, nor fined, since the fan went on the playing surface.

2) Tri-City Americans vs. Seattle Thuderbirds Fans-The WHL has had many memorable fighters in its ranks, including Joe Kocur, Colton Orr, and Dylan McIlrath. It also had one of the most incredible fan vs. team incidents, as some garbage throwing by Seattle fans led to this exchange by the Tri-City Americans.

Yes, that's the goalie sprinting across the ice to go toward the bench. And yes, that's a fan who gets a stick and begins swinging back at the players.

The incident caused two players and the head coach to be suspended indefinitely. For those NHL fans in the crowd, yes, that is Olaf Kolzig who sprinted on to the bench to start swinging with his goalie stick. Stu Barnes, another player who went on to NHL success, was also involved in this brawl.

1)Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers Fans
The Holy Grail of fan vs. player interaction. This is far and away the greatest example of a game completely getting out of control. As soon as then-captain Terry O'Reilly had his stick taken by a fan, he decided he had enough.

Mike Milbury, a current announcer for both NBC and CBC, was involved in this brawl. It would eventually result in three Bruins suspensions, while four of the fans involved in the brawl were arrested.

It still stands as the largest incident of hockey players going after a fan base.