I was also at the game (and sober. I was actually on a date...didn't turn out to be a god date setting, haha). It was embarrassing - although I'd venture that it was more embarrassing for the St. Olaf fans than the Carleton fans. Many of the cheers were extraordinarily nasty and I was absolutely mortified to hear my own classmates shouting "you f***ef up!" at the St. Olaf goalie after we scored; although I know that the St. Olaf fans responded in kind, it was really uncalled for and I can't blame some of my friends for leaving early - they didn't want any part in it.
That being said - I can confirm several things.
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When the crowd threw soda cans and bottles onto the ice, St. Olaf was penalized, and additional bottles and cans along with zamboni tires were thrown onto the ice in retaliation.
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The tires were thrown on the ice by a
St. Olaf student coach - I have absolutely NO idea where he got them, but he was thrown out of the game. After Carleton scored a goal late in the 2nd period, the St. Olaf fans were the ones throwing bottles onto the ice for literally five minutes. The announcers and the refs continued to ask the fans to stop, but they kept up for five minutes or so until the announcer said that any more bottles on the ice would result in a forfeit by St. Olaf (although the Carleton cheer in response was actually pretty funny - "we recycle." Only at Carleton).
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The St. Olaf players were just as rambunctious as the fans. "St. Olaf had about as many penalty minutes as they had game minutes," spectator Thomas Hegland '13 said.
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I can also confirm this. Carleton players certainly had their fair share of penalties, all of which were deserved. I remember being confused, however, because I didn't understand why St. Olaf had so many penalties - they were because of the fans. There were literally times when there would be two St. Olaf players in the penalty box because of poor fan behavior. I could tell that their players were angry at this as well.
There were several other incidents that weren't in the articles. I have no idea what happened in the St. Olaf locker rooms, but I do know that one of the Carleton players asked the police to watch the Carleton locker room, because St. Olaf fans were lined up outside the locker room when they went back in between periods. My friend's stick and gloves were stolen when he was in the bathroom. I don't know what happened in the Ole locker rooms, but I'm sure it wasn't exactly peaceful either.
Lastly - the fight was ugly and intense. In addition to the players, several spectators actually jumped over the glass onto the ice so that they could join the fight - it was ridiculous. I have no idea who hit the ref, but both schools were equally at fault and it was really startling. I wasn't aware that the game was called a draw, but it doesn't surprise me.
In short, it was an ugly game. There were a
lot of drunk fans from both schools, and the tensions elevated really quickly. I don't expect another Carleton-St. Olaf game for a while.
