NHL & Minor Leagues » AHL: Phantoms - Leafs... benches empty

Boxscore und kurzer Bericht von einem Zuschauer, der live beim Bench-Clearing Brawl zwischen den Philly Phantoms und den St. Johns Maple Leafs dabei war!!!

The game took a turn for the worse late in the third period, as an
altercation between the Phantoms’ Francis Lessard and Leafs’ Doug Doull
resulted in a bench-clearing brawl between the two clubs with all 38 players
on the ice. Several fights broke out during the melee, and 120 penalty
minutes were handed out with 2:20 left in regulation.

First Period

Scoring: 1, Phantoms, Forbes 1(Watt),2:14. 2, Phantoms, Brendl 15(power
play)(Skalde, Greig),10:56.

Penalties: Brunel, Phantoms, Major (Fighting), 3:04; Doull, Sjm, Major
(Fighting), 3:04; Brunel, Phantoms (Roughing), 3:04; Brendl, Phantoms
(Tripping), 5:54; Lessard, Phantoms (Hooking), 8:12; Warren, Sjm (Holding),
10:36; Rourke, Sjm (Interference), 12:24

Second Period

Scoring: 3, Phantoms, Koehler 22(Peters, Lefebvre),2:03. 4, St. John's,
Moro 1(House),6:39.

Penalties: Doull, Sjm (Holding), 3:56; Lephart, Phantoms (Hooking), 10:50;
Bench, Sjm (Too many men on the ice), 18:18;

Third Period

Scoring: 5, Phantoms, Divisek 13(Watt),2:14. 6, St. John's, Warren
7(Chartier, Ponikarovsky),4:17. 7, Phantoms, Koehler 23(power play)(Divisek,
Watt),14:11.

Penalties: Lessard, Phantoms (Holding), 4:43; Lessard, Phantoms (Roughing),
4:43; Wren, Sjm (Holding), 4:43; Wren, Sjm (High-sticking), 4:43; Freer,
Phantoms (Holding), 8:27; Divisek, Phantoms (Tripping), 9:36; Doull, Sjm
(Roughing), 12:22; Lessard, Phantoms, Major (Fighting), 17:40; Koehler,
Phantoms, Major (Fighting), 17:40; Koehler, Phantoms (Game Misconduct),
17:40; P. Vandermeer, Phantoms, Major (Fighting), 17:40; P. Vandermeer,
Phantoms (Game Misconduct), 17:40; Brunel, Phantoms, Major (Fighting), 17:40;
Brunel, Phantoms (Game Misconduct), 17:40; Doull, Sjm, Major (Fighting),
17:40; Payette, Sjm, Major (Fighting), 17:40; Payette, Sjm (Game Misconduct),
17:40; Payette, Sjm (Game Misconduct), 17:40; Moro, Sjm, Major (Fighting),
17:40; Moro, Sjm (Game Misconduct), 17:40; Dempsey, Sjm (Game Misconduct),
17:40; Mills, Sjm, Major (Fighting), 17:40; Mills, Sjm (Game Misconduct),
17:40; Peters, Phantoms, Major (Fighting), 17:52; Wren, Sjm, Major
(Fighting), 17:52;

This had been brewing for two full games before things erupted late in the third last night.
Doull and Lessard went right off a faceoff but it was a crap fight as Doull slipped right away and they went down. The linesmen got in there and they got back up and were still trying to get at each other. Finally they separated and as one linesman was escorting Lessard to the penaltybox, Lessard threw him to the ice (big suspension coming up) and went wild trying to get back at Doull.

As Lessard was going nuts, Mark Greig came off the Phantoms bench, but it didn't look like he was going to get involved in anything, I think he just wanted to get Lessard to calm down. I didn't see anything else happen until Andre Payette came running off the Leafs' bench and Craig Brunel came off the Phantoms bench to greet him. Payette was followed by Craig Mills and a few more Leafs. I didn't see it, but someone told me that Leafs' coach Lou Crawford was telling his guys to get out there.

So with the benches completely emptied, Payette and Brunel went at it pretty good. At the same time Marc Moro and Peter Vendermeer were going at it in the corner and everyone else was on the ice just sort of hanging onto each other and watching these two fights. I was trying to keep an eye on both fights, so I can't give a good description of either one of them, but they were all throwing them pretty good.

Payette and Brunel had just separated when Vandermeer ended up knocking Moro to the ice in the corner (although I think it was just that Moro slipped) and then everyone jumped into the pile but no punches were being thrown. Out from the pile come Craig Mills and Greg Koehler and they skate out to center ice and square off. This was a great scrap as they traded bombs, switching hands, and finally Mills knocked Koehler to the ice.

Just as that fight ended, Moro goes back after Vandermeer and they had round 2. This was a good one too with Moro getting a definite edge this time. Then as that settled down, Dan Peters and Bob Wren had words but they were separated.

So after all that was cleared up, the play started again and Wren nailed Peters into the boards and dropped his gloves and they went. Wren was the aggressor and he had Peters bent over and was throwing upper cuts but I don't think any of them landed.

There will be major suspensions coming from this. I have a feeling the Leafs will get the worst of it. Payette was the first Leaf off the bench, Mills and Moro could also get the 10-game suspension for coming off the bench and fighting. Greig was the first Phantoms off, but he didn't really do anything so he might get away with nothing. Brunel and Koehler might get the 10 games, but Vandermeer should be ok since he was on the ice at the time of the initial fight between Doull and Lessard. The coaches will also probably get something.