No Disciplinary Action Coming For NYPD Personnel In Hockey Game Fight
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- NYPD personnel who played in a charity hockey game with FDNY members, and got into fisticuffs, will not be subjected to disciplinary action.
The NYPD told CBS 2 Monday night that the police team in the annual charity hockey game at the Nassau Coliseum on Sunday was organized by the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, and was not authorized by the NYPD.
For that reason, no official discipline will be issued, the NYPD said.
With the score tied 3-3 in the second period Sunday, the teams engaged in the type of full-out bench-clearing brawl that was typically seen in the NHL during the 1970s and '80s, and is still occasionally waged in the minors today.
At one point almost all of the players on both sides were fighting, save for the goalies.
"It was reminiscent of the old-time Rangers-Flyers games in the mid-70s," one NYPD officer who was at the game told the New York Post. "I was waiting for (legendary Philadelphia Flyers enforcer) Dave Schultz to come out on the ice."
That same police officer said he'd been coming to the annual clash for 20 years and had never witnessed anything like what happened on Sunday.
Hockey fan Ken Ternlund took a video of the meltdown.
Disclaimer: Video Contains Adult Language
"All of a sudden it just look like gloves were dropping, helmets were dropping, and all of a sudden an all out war just broke out," Ternlund told CBS 2.
Following a 25-minute delay to restore order -- featuring the officials compiling a list of penalty minutes that would make old-school NHL fans smile -- the teams got back to actually playing hockey and the NYPD went on to win 8-5, ending a five-game losing streak in the series.
The FDNY on Monday declined to comment on the game.
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