The rivalry has officially gotten heated.
Hockey players from opposing high school-age teams broke into an all-out brawl Thursday night at an ice rink in suburban Philadelphia, ending the quarterfinal game prematurely and leading to local police being called to the scene. At least one player was reported injured and parents said police responded to the scene, although no police report was immediately available.
The game was between Central Bucks High School West and a team comprised of players from Ridley Township but not the high school team, according to the Bucks County Intelligencer. With the Bucks holding a commanding 7-1 lead with about seven minutes to play in the third period, tempers flared. As violence broke out across the ice, onlookers can be heard screaming ‘F— him up!’ in video of the game (CB West has yellow jerseys, Ridley’s is in black).
Ridley vs cv west pic.twitter.com/9yVGgfHmn5
— Jason Peters (@jasonp014) March 10, 2017
@carrelli24 pic.twitter.com/ZMNVBca0Uf
— Mike_C (@carrelli24) March 10, 2017
Hatfield Township Police responded to the scene. The department did not respond immediately to requests for a report.
One parent posted the video on Facebook with the caption, “Disgrace!!”He claimed in another post the fight was provoked by the losing team’s coach.
“Since he couldn’t win the game, he tried to sabotage our season!” the parent wrote, adding that one CB West player was taken by ambulance to a hospital and that arrests were imminent. Ridley Township school district superintendent Lee Ann Wentzel denounced the violence caught on camera.
“This is not acceptable,” Wentzel said. ”It is such a poor representation of our school, and falls well below the standards of our school district.”
TheRidley hockey teamis actually a separate organization from the school district, Wentzel noted, and is independently enrolled with the USA Hockey youth league. Wentzel said she would condone any sanctions the league applies to Ridley’s hockey team after Thursday night’s debacle, but did not say if any student would face school disciplinary action. “We need to go through exactly what occurred,” she said. “There may be some real consequences that occur to this team.”
The Central Bucks West hockey team made their thoughts plain on Twitter.
“West played well and hard and clean. It’s unfortunate that we had to be part of the end of that game. We move on,” they wrote.
West defeats Ridley 7-1. West played well and hard and clean. It’s unfortunate that we had to be part of the end of that game. We move on.
— CB West Ice Hockey (@buckspucks) March 10, 2017
This article was originally published on March 10 at 12:11 p.m.
