Things were far from sweet on the ice in “The Sweetest Place on Earth,” when a “Mites on Ice” game in Hershey, Pennsylvania, descended into an all-out brawl on Saturday night.
The “Mites on Ice” game was taking place between periods of an AHL game between the Hershey Bears and the Cleveland Monsters at Giant Center, when players from the Central Penn Panthers Youth Ice Hockey Club started fighting each other.
Mite players are considered kids aged 8 and under.
Video from the game showed multiple players trying to fight each other, with a player in a blue jersey taking an opposing player down to the ice and punching him in the helmet before teammates of the player in the white jersey came to his aid.
Other players in blue jerseys joined the fray, and eventually the white team’s goaltender came bumrushing into the picture.
At no point in the one-minute video did any officials or adults attempt to break up the fracas, and toward the end of the footage, it looked as though some of the mites had turned their attention back to the puck.
In a statement Sunday, the Central Penn Panthers Youth Ice Hockey Club said they were aware of the incident at Saturday night’s game and that they were “conducting an internal review to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
The organization asked for “patience and understanding” as it looked into the situation.
The Central Penn Panthers are based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and have teams that range in age from 4 to 18.
The Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association called the incident in its statement a “staged fight,” and said “appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against those players and team officials involved” in the incident following its own investigation.
The AAHA’s statement also noted that neither USA Hockey nor its own organization sanctioned the “Mites on Ice” game at Giant Center over the weekend.
The Hershey Bears said that the brawl “did not reflect the values of the sport or the standards we expect when young athletes are on the ice.”
“We are reviewing this matter and will work closely with participating teams and partners to ensure clear safeguards, supervision, and expectations are in place for any future youth activities held during our games. Our focus remains on protecting young players and upholding the integrity of the sport,” the Bears said in their statement.
The incident has gone viral on social media, with outlets across the country picking up on the brawl, and it was even mentioned during “Hockey Night in Canada.”
