<p>Has this “good natured” rivalry grown ugly? My son was at the game, and his account matched the articles below: obscene and insulting chants traded between schools, showering the ice with cans, bottles, and other debris, ejection of the Olaf coach, fist fights on the ice, in the stands, and outside the arena, injury to a ref, and intervention of the Northfield police. Wondering if the Northfield ice arena will agree to host the match in coming years…</p>
<p>[</a>" + artTitle.replace(“-”,“”) + " - " + “Manitou Messenger” + " - " + “Opinions” + "](<a href=“http://www.manitoumessenger.com/opinions/club-hockey-brawl-triggers-shame-and-stitches-1.2512012]”>http://www.manitoumessenger.com/opinions/club-hockey-brawl-triggers-shame-and-stitches-1.2512012)</p>
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<p>Ds also was at the game, and his account sounds like the column – only his account had more anecdotes about the drunk fans and trying to keep the peace.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>That being said - I can confirm several things.
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).</p>
<p>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The troublemakers(ALL of them, players, fans, spectators) on both sides should be expelled from school immediately.Period.</p>
<p>Friendly rivalry is not a bad thing but when such things as this happen, they have a bad habit of escalating. Education is distracted(let’s not forget the primary purpose of a college), when the violence spills out into the community it adversely affects neighbors, residents and businesses. And NORTHFIELDERS don’t appreciate this in our town.</p>
<p>The students involved are obviously not as interested in their education as they are in causing trouble. It’s not the proper time for their pursuit of education, they don’t have a grip on the focus and ethics necessary.</p>
<p>Kick ‘em to da curb, send ‘em home.</p>
<p>^That’s extraordinarily harsh. I think a reprimand/warning is more appropriate for what happened. No one was majorly hurt - the referee was minorly injured - and nothing illegal took place. Plus, where do you draw the line? I hope you’re not saying that a student who threw a few bottles onto the ice should face the same consequences as someone who jumped over a glass fence to join in on the brawl.</p>