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The St. John’s Junior Hockey League is promising “severe suspensions” following “unacceptable” conduct on and off the ice during a junior hockey playoff game on Saturday night.
“It’s something totally against what the league stands for,” president Jim Hare told CBC News on Monday.
He described the behaviour at Saturday’s game in St. John’s as “disgusting” and “very disturbing.”
Game 3 of the best-of-five quarter-final series between the league-leading St. John’s Junior Caps and the last place Southern Shore Junior Breakers disintegrated into a donnybrook that had to be called off early in the third period because almost all Breakers players had been kicked out.
The Caps were leading 5-2 at the time, and swept the series in three straight, outscoring the Breakers by a combined margin of 19-8.
Nearly 600 minutes in penalties
According to the game summary from the league’s website, the two referees handed out 568 minutes in penalties, with 320 of those to the Breakers.
That far exceeds the record for most penalty minutes in a single NHL game (419), which was set by the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ottawa Senators on March 5, 2004.
The word “fighting” appears 20 times in the game summary, while the word “misconduct” appears 43 times. One player, goaltender Devon Bungay of the Breakers, received a gross misconduct.
All four goalies — J. T. Tobin and Bungay of the Breakers and Nathan Hurley and Scott Kirby of the Caps — received fighting majors.
The coach of the Caps, Steve Callahan, would not do a recorded interview, but he blamed the Breakers for the chaos.
“Unfortunately, the Southern Shore players decided they wanted to do anything other than play hockey,” Callahan said in a statement to CBC News.
Coach said he received a death threat
Callahan said two Breakers players left their bench to engage in a second period melee, but said he managed to control his bench.
Callahan said one fan jumped into his team’s bench, and that he filed a complaint with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary over what he described as a death threat.
“Alcohol was seen in the stands, and the crowd was loud and antagonistic, with threatening comments directed toward the Junior Caps,” Callahan wrote in a statement.
Callahan said a group of about two dozen young people elevated the tension in the arena and “created chaos around our dressing room.”
Callahan said the crowd “prevented us for 20 minutes from leaving the room.”
Breakers coach Cory Brothers declined an interview, but denied there was any premeditation.
“We had no plans of playing that style of hockey,” Brothers said when reached by telephone. “I didn’t tell my team to go out and get involved in anything.”
Brothers would not comment when asked what team may have instigated things, or if he was embarrassed by how the game unfolded.
‘Respect is paramount’
The league issued a statement on Sunday that condemned the events on and off the ice.
“Respect is paramount at our games and conduct such as last night will not be tolerated,” the statement reads.
Hare said league executives will decide “what players and/or coaches need to be suspended” after they review the official game report and consult with the referees.
Hare said the league has a long history of providing players between the ages of 18 to 21 an opportunity to play competitive hockey, and described Saturday’s fight-fest as an “isolated incident.”
Callahan, meanwhile, said his team is having an “historic season,” with just three losses during the 28-game regular season, and set a new record for the lowest goals against in the league’s 45-year history.
The Caps will now face the Paradise Warriors in one semi-final, while the CBN Stars will take on the Mount Pearl Blades in the other.
