Hockey Fight

There was a fight at hockey this Sunday.

My team is the Chargers, and one of the best players on our team is a 6'2" jovial guy named Nick. He's a joker but also a good leader, plays clean most of the time but can dish out trash talk when he needs to. We also have a guy on our team named Dan who's a bit older, a bit bigger, and often complains of back problems.

We were playing a team called Orange Slice. We were destroying them so badly that their best player quit, leading us to destroy them even more badly - something like 7-1 with a few minutes left. They got a bit of relief when one of their players slapped the puck into the net from the top of the circle, making it 7-2. The very next drop of the puck, though, Nick drove up through two of their players - who were playing very dirty defense - right up to the net, passed it off, and let the other winger score. On the way back, the defenders tried to tell Nick that he was playing dirty and he just smiled and laughed and said, "Yeah man, I'm garbage, absolutely."

I guess their team was getting frustrated by the crushing score. Their center, who I call Short Fat Angry Italian Man (SFAIM), got very upset in particular. He came up to the drop with me and shouted, "IS THERE ANYONE ON YOUR TEAM THAT ISN'T MENTALLY RETARDED?" I thought about telling him where I went to school this fall but decided not to. He slashed very roughly when the puck was dropped.

It went back into our zone after that drop with about 40 second left on the clock. Nick was defending the guy with the puck and skating along with him behind the net. I guess Nick was a little feisty right then, so he just railed the guy into the boards. Once he was on the ground, he started pummeling him, and the guy started pummeling back.

At the same time, inside the circle on our goalie's left, SFAIM slashed Dan in the back of the knee, taking Dan to the ground, but Dan took SFAIM to the ground with him. I believe Dan just pulled the guy's shirt over his head, removing his helmet, as the guy removed his gloves, but they didn't fight. There were two referees, and one of them dealt with each of the brewing fights.

Nick and his guy had actually punched each other, but SFAIM and Dan had not. Once the refs separated them, though, SFAIM didn't calm down. His faced turned red and he strained and shouted at Dan: "YOU P***Y! YEAH YOU LEAVE YOUR F***ING HELMET ON P***Y! YOU JUST ENDED YOUR F***ING LIFE MAN I'LL F***ING KILL YOU IN THE PARKING LOT."

The game ended before we were allowed to play anymore. We went to our bench to get changed, and got word that Nick might be suspended for the next game because he and his guy had actually thrown punches. Dan appeared safe for the moment. We talked about how funny it was that SFAIM was getting so upset over recreation Men 25+ roller hockey. Nick said, "Yeah I mean, I might get a little pissed off for those thirty seconds and throw my body around but once the game's over what the hell do I care? I'm over it!" We all agreed. He said he used to get really upset when he was twelve and he played in tournaments that "actually mattered," but not for things like this.

As we were changing and talking, SFAIM man started walking to our bench and accosting Dan, asking if he was too p***y to come out to the parking lot and fight him. The thin ref got in his way and told him to leave, and one of our team members and two guys from the Vipers (playing after us) told him to quit the league and go home.

We weren't going to let Dan walk out alone, so I walked out with him and JT (who is very muscular). When we got out there, SFAIM was actually waiting around on his little blue car with three of his friends and approached us: "Oh, so there you are you f***ing p***y." Dan just kept walking straight and the guy came up to him and lined up to throw at him what he had in his hand - an empty Dasani water bottle. I wanted to laugh, but I suppose it would have been a bad time. I know how much water bottles hurt... and it's not much.

Anyway, in retaliation, JT wound up to punch the guy, and SFAIM flinched big time, but Dan told JT to stop. JT could have pounded the crap out of the guy, but there were four fighters for them and basically JT for us. The fat ref came out and told us to stop and go to our cars, so we went home.

I don't know if SFAIM is actually Italian. He could very well have been Eastern European, or basically any other European descent.

Peace out.