The second annual Mayor’s Cup ended with a bang when ice hockey players from Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute dropped the gloves and brawled on the ice.
With one second and one faceoff remaining in the game, emotions got the best of everyone. As soon as the puck was dropped, the horn sounded and despite the fact that fighting isn’t allowed in college hockey, players paired off to fight. Things even got intense at the benches when Union coach Rick Bennett tried to get through linesmen and players to go after RPI coach Seth Appert.
Both coaches were apologetic in their postgame comments, according to the Daily Gazette.
“I’m actually embarrassed about my actions,” Bennett said. “I apologize to our president, our athletic director, our fans, Garnet Blades members, to the RPI fans, their coaching staff, their players. That’s now we want to be represented.”
“I’d like to apologize for that end of the game [incident],” Appert said. “These are two heated rivals that have had some of these incidents, but we have a tremendous amount of respect for Union. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Rick Bennett and his coaching staff. When you play in a heated rivalry game, sometimes things boil over. But that’s not the way we want to be portrayed at all. I know they don’t either.”
The fights will cost a number of players their next games, and the same could go for the coaches.
Check out the video below, with a stick tap to Eye on Hockey.
