The Blackhawks-Canucks rivalry doesn’t just involve the teams in Chicago and Vancouver.
On Sunday night the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs (Chicago’s affiliate), and the Chicago Wolves (Vancouver’s affiliate) showed hockey fans that the bad blood between the franchises trickles down into the AHL, too.
Pointed out by Yahoo! Sports’ Puck Daddy, the two teams had a bench brawl on Sunday night after former Boston College standout Ben Smith was pummeled by Guillaume Desbiens of the Wolves with just a few seconds left in the Ice Hogs’ 2-1 win. Smith took a vicious hit from behind in front of the Hogs’ bench and, either due to the door being ajar or the force of the hit, he actually went through the gate and into the bench.
That’s when chaos broke out and 27 penalties ensued, which can be seen in the video below.
