There is an old joke where patrons went to a fight and a hockey game broke out. Unfortunately, the reverse can be said of the Bantam division playoff game Mar. 2 in Barrhead.
A Barrhead Pirates player was hit from behind following the end-of-game ceremonies and an argument between an official and a Warburg coach regarding a non-call escalated to the point where a member of the Barrhead RCMP detachment was called.
According to Sgt. Bob Dodds the official in question wanted the incident spoken to and did not want charges pressed, but the RCMP are investigating.
Pirates assistant coach Dave Bondarchuk said he did not know the outcome as he left the arena when the RCMP arrived.
“When the coaches were shaking hands with the officials, one of Warburg’s coaches questioned a non-call on a play in the third period. He thought there should have been a head-contact penalty called against Barrhead but the head official explained that it was a clean hit,” Bondarchuk said, adding because the explanation was not what Warburg wanted to hear, profanities and insults from both the coach in question and an unruly Warburg fan ensued.
“That’s when the official told the fan to leave the arena and when they [fan] continued to threaten him, the official decided to call the police,” he said.
An Abuse of Official report was written up and it is likely the Warburg coach will face a 2-game suspension.
Following a narrow 6-5 shootout victory against the Warburg Thunder one day earlier, the Pirates 7-1 victory on Mar. 2 cemented their hold on the best-of-three games series.
The first period started off with a bang.
Colton Bondarchuk led the fray 30 seconds into the frame, scoring his first goal against Warburg with an assist from Brendan Bujold and Shaldon Dewsnap.
Eight minutes later Dewsnap scored one of his own, with assists from Jordan Kleinfeldt and Siraj Assaf.
Fifteen seconds later Kalem McCallum added to the gap, with an assist from Bujold and Abraham Properzi.
Two penalties for slashing and tripping, one served by Pirates players Kaleb Timm, the other by Riley Jones, in addition to one for head-contact served by Warburg forward Alden Rowley later, the score was 3-0 for Barrhead.
The second period saw Barrhead’s Justin Baker and McCallum score two unanswered goals, with assists, bringing the tally to 5-0.
Heading into the third period, with penalties for boarding, interference, holding and head-contact mounting, tensions began to rise.
Barrhead and Warburg fought for possession of the puck amid repeated calls of icing.
The seemingly flawless victory for Barrhead was marred by Warburg’s only goal six minutes into the final period, but their momentum could not be maintained.
Barrhead answered back seven minutes later when Bujold scored again and Bondarchuk added icing to the metaphorical cake, bringing the final score to 7-1.
The Pirates, who previously won the Provincial Zone 3 banner against the CR Knights in February, now move on to the provincial championship.
Their first games of the championship rounds are against Zone 5 champions Lethbridge at 9 a.m. in Bon Accord and against CNN at 3:30 p.m. on Mar. 17.
