For those of you hoping that fighting remains in hockey forever, an obscure junior hockey game in Sweden offers some good news.
J-18 Allettan Östra teams Strängnäs HC played Flemingsbergs IK on Sunday in Akers Ice Hall in Strangnas, Sweden. It’s a small town of 34,000 people, and only 67 fans were in the crowd.
But boy, did they witness some old-time hockey.
Flemingsbergs IK won in a 5-0 rout, but that’s not the headline. No, we’ve highlighted the headlines for you:
Yep. The two clubs combined for 871 penalty minutes in one game.
If you’re wondering, the NHL record for most penalty minutes in one game is 419, set by the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers brawl in 2004.
The 213 minutes assessed against Philadelphia was also a record. So the two Swedish junior teams doubled both records on Sunday.
The penalty sheet on the box score takes up three pages. Go get some popcorn.
Amazing. Up until the third period, barely anything had happened. So what exactly did happen?
According to a report on Afton Bladet, the festivities erupted in the postgame handshake line and the referee just threw everyone out of the game. Our own Patrik Bexell translated the report for us:
When the two teams Åker/Strängnäs and Flemingsberg were to do the handshake line after the game it ended with every player getting into a fight. The referee saw no other way to handle it than to give everyone except the two reserve keepers a game misconduct.
“Me and the supply guy jumped on the ice and started to tell the guys to stop it and get away from each other. It all started with a push at the handshake line and then it continued with more pushes. I don’t think it was that bad, it calmed down quite fast and no one got hurt. It stopped quite fast in the rink” says Flemingsbergs coach Fredrik Strandfeldt.
It seems the referee consulted with the league and all agreed giving every player a misconduct was the right move. The referee “wanted to make a statement,” so he handed out 33 misconducts and a suspension will probably follow.
If only there was video.
