Old Time Hockey! Norfolk Admirals coach suspended

[pittunited]

We haven't seen anything like this in Norfolk since the days of John Brophy...

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/print...9275&ran=228843

Admirals coach suspended indefinitely after brawl

By TRIS WYKES, The Virginian-Pilot

© December 13, 2004

The AHL suspended Norfolk Admirals coach Trent Yawney indefinitely Sunday, the result of an enormous brawl that erupted at the end of the first period Saturday in Norfolk?s 5-1 loss to the Lowell Lock Monsters at Scope.

Also suspended indefinitely was Lowell coach Tom Rowe and Lock Monsters player Allan Rourke. The coaches? attempts to fight each other on the ice sparked the 10-minute melee that resulted in 114 penalty minutes and seven game misconducts.

Rourke was issued a match penalty for head-butting.

AHL president Dave Andrews attended Saturday?s contest and took a copy of the game video with him upon leaving. It?s expected Yawney and Rowe will be suspended for multiple games and other players also could be banned for a season accumulation of misconducts. Norfolk enforcer Mike Brown said he is in line for such discipline.

Although many in an announced crowd of 5,236 cheered and whooped during the fracas, other fans said the display was disgraceful.

''I don?t even want to come to an Admirals game anymore,?? said Mike Rondeau, a Suffolk resident who brought his 10-year-old son?s youth hockey team to the contest. ''The kids were all talking about how cool the fight was and I told them 'No, that was a bunch of grown men acting like idiots.???

Admirals fan Steve Jalaly of Virginia Beach said he enjoys watching a good scrap but that Saturday?s group disturbance went too far.

''I?m here for the hockey and the fights but that wasn?t hockey,?? he said. ''Once the period?s over, go to your locker room.??

Said Dennis Cunningham, a visiting fan from Raleigh, N.C.: ''I can?t imagine 20 different people having so much dislike for 20 other guys in a game.??

Andrews and Admirals vice president Blake Cullen both appeared distraught after the brawl. Andrews declined comment but Cullen said he was grateful things weren?t worse.

''The good thing about hockey is that something like that almost always stays behind the glass and the boards,?? Cullen said. ''No fans were involved but it?s still very unfortunate. We?re certainly not selling that kind of thing as entertainment.??

The donnybrook will no doubt cause the placement of Scope?s hockey team benches to again be questioned. Common sense dictates that teams occupy the bench closest to their dressing room and almost all pro rinks are set up so teams don?t cross each other?s path when leaving the ice ? as they do at Scope.

The Admirals shifted the benches for their inaugural AHL home game in 2000, but complaints from season ticket holders who had bought their seats to be close to the home team bench prompted a reversal the next night.

Regardless of which bench the Admirals occupy Wednesday at their next home game, Yawney?s not likely to be on it. The coach, whose suit jacket pocket was torn off in the brawl and who at one point was jerked around by his tie, said he expected to be suspended but that he had to stick up for his players.

''I?m always going to watch their backs,?? he said. ''I?m a mother hen and I guess what happened out there was instinct.??

Norfolk hits the road immediately after Wednesday?s game and plays its next four contests in Texas. Bruce Cassidy, former coach of the NHL?s Washington Capitals and currently an assistant with the parent Chicago Blackhawks, coached the conclusion of Saturday?s game and will presumably fill in while Yawney is suspended.

[pcgd]

My favorite part is where they call it a donneybrock.

"Numberous haymakers were thrown...."

Ok...it didn't say haymakers, but it would have been pretty cool...

[Lee.]

Hands down, the single-greatest hockey moment since former Jets coach Tom McVie took out his teeth and started ninja-creeping ON THE BOARDS around the ice to challenge the then-coach of the North Stars to a fight.

Tom McVie, the one coach that CJOB couldn't let on the air, since every third word was "****sucker".

*edit*- thought the censor woulda caught that one, CC, sorry.

[slapshot]

This shows the extent of news reporting in my area. The Lowell Sun only mentioned that the LockMonsters won, and there was a huge brawl that resulted in the ejection of the coaches. I figured that out when I looked at the box score that night.

I always miss these donneybrooks. They're either on the road, or on the nights I don't have tickets. I've come close to seeing two goalie fights, but both ended up with nothing more than jersey tugging.

[winters in buffalo]

Damn, I probably could have been there.

I always miss the good carnage.

[NJTank]

I miss hockey and Gary Bettman does not wnat the NHL to rteurn ever Im now convinced of that.

[Dilbert]

I like the fights and even like it when the goalies go at it, but when the coaches go at it then no, thats just wrong.

[JamesCraven]

UPDATE: Monday, the AHL suspended both coaches ten games each for their part in the shenanigans. Blarney and Mularkey were unavailable for comment. (I know, Mularkey's coaching football in Buffalo.)

[slapshot]

One of the reasons the coaches got such large suspensions was the fact that the president of the league, Mike Andrews, was in attendance. He immediately took a copy of the game on video to look over the incident again before handing out the punishments. According to an article in today's Lowell Sun, the coaches never exchanged blows. Both, however, did incite more "roughhousing" between players of both teams.

[randyc]

hahaha that is awesome!