I saw a lot of crazy things watching minor league hockey here in Michigan. Back in the early days of the (now defunct) IHL, teams like Flint, Saginaw and Kalamazoo played to some pretty fierce rivalries.
One game I remember seeing the ref was calling such a bad game, the Flint coach finally decided to skate the entire bench over to the penalty box under protest. He left 4 skaters and the goalie on the ice for most of the third period. It was pretty funny seeing a dozen players sitting in a box built for about 3-4.
Another game saw Kalamazoo coach Ted Garvin so pissed at the ref he started throwing chairs, water bottles and even part of the bech out on the ice, almost hitting a linesman. He was ejected. /obvious.
I especially remember seeing many, many "bench-clearing" brawls, just like depicted in "Slapshot". It was pretty funny seeing the ref on the ice with notepad writing down penalties. Sometimes the announcement afterward took longer than the actual fight. "For Flint, number two, two minutes for slashing, two minutes for tripping, five minutes for fighting, a ten-minute misconduct and a game misconduct. Number four, two minutes for slashing..."
Ahh, the good ole days.
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