As noted last night, the Toledo Walleye got into a brawl with the Kansas City Mavericks, and ABC New York’s Ryan Field posted a clip of the shenanigans (per Brandon Kerr on Twitter):
Holy Toledo! What a great hockey brawl. pic.twitter.com/ZNeqm6ZFL5
— Ryan Field (@RyanFieldABC) February 11, 2018
The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe reported that the Walleye were mighty peeved about the brawl…
After Crisp scored his third of the game, a fight broke out and fans went absolutely wild. Kansas City forward Garrett Klotz punched Walleye forward A.J. Jenks after play had stopped. Klotz then repeatedly cross-checked Jenks as he lay on the ice.
Walleye coach Dan Watson called the situation “absolutely embarrassing.”
“Their coaching staff should be embarrassed. Their organization should be embarrassed,” Watson said. “Klotz should be suspended for the rest of the year. I think he should be done. It’s unacceptable. Our league is trying to get rid of the image from the 1980s and 1990s. If this is going to continue, it won’t we’ll continue to get a bad rap.”
A scrum ensued, then Machovsky charged out of his net to faceoff with McDonald in a rare fight between goalkeepers.
“I’ve never been part of something like that,” Machovsky said. “It was just crazy. I had to defend my teammates. That’s what I did. It was quick sprint. I was tired when I got there, so it wasn’t a really big fight. I think I held my ground. It’s something you’re not going to [experience] very often in life. So you have to enjoy the moment and get the crowd going.”
And today, per Monroe…
The @kc_mavericks released this statement today from coach John-Scott Dickson: “I want to make this clear-players were not sent out to deliberately do anything in last night’s game. Things were happening on the ice. We will always play till the end …”
— Mark Monroe (@MonroeBlade) February 11, 2018
Dickson (cont.): “We will always play till the end, emotions and frustration came into play and that is hockey. Need situations controlled from the start.” https://t.co/FINgxAP0oM
— Mark Monroe (@MonroeBlade) February 11, 2018
Spineless.
— Kevin Tansey (@KevinTansey93) February 11, 2018
Lol, not according to the players on the ice..
— AJ Jenks (@jenksaj) February 11, 2018
I agree with the Toledo coach. Klotz should be suspended for the rest of the season and any playoff games too.