Brawl between university hockey teams in N.S. prompts investigation

WOLFVILLE, N.S. — A brawl erupted between two Nova Scotia hockey teams on the ice Saturday night, prompting an investigation from the body that oversees university sports in Atlantic Canada.

The fight happened during a game between the Acadia Axemen and the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men in Wolfville, N.S., according to a recap on the Acadia website and numerous videos posted online.

The recap says five Acadia players, eight X-Men and both head coaches were ejected from the game.

It’s still unclear exactly what happened, but a number of videos posted to social media show players on both teams hurling profanities, striking each other, and grabbing each other’s jerseys.

Hockey sticks and gloves were cast aside and forgotten as pandemonium broke out on the benches and the ice in front of them.

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The coaches and referees appeared to step in at one point in an attempt to calm things down, although the coaches appeared to be yelling at each other a short time later.

After a 20-minute delay, the game continued and Acadia won 6-3, according to the recap on the school’s website.

In an interview, Atlantic University Sport executive director Phil Currie said the association is taking the incident “very seriously,” and the matter has been handed to the AUS men’s hockey commissioner for an investigation.

“We don’t condone any of it. We don’t have fighting in the AUS,” he said. “So it’s a pretty serious thing for us when something like this happens.”

Currie didn’t know if there were any injuries, but said he doesn’t believe there were.

The next step, he said, is for the commissioner to conduct an investigation to see who is at fault.

“What we need to do is investigate it, figure it all out, then apply sanctions where they’re needed,” he said.

“There’s a lot to figure out, like who jumped over the bench and who didn’t, and who took the first swing. It’s way too early to determine which way we’re going right now.”

Spokespeople for Acadia and St. FX could not be reached for comment Sunday.

The Canadian Press