A video has gone viral on the Internet of a major scuffle in the stands at the end of Tuesday's Wilkie Outlaws-Biggar Nationals SWHL championship game in Unity.
The game itself saw the Outlaws beat Biggar 5-2 to win the league title, but it was during the presentation of the awards on the ice that tempers boiled over in the stands.
The video was posted on Facebook by Nick Wourms, who was at the game. His cellphone video showed a number of fans pushing, shoving and beating each other in the stands.
A number of fans were seen wrestled to the seats. Others in the video looked like they were trying to step in to break up the fights that were erupting.
After things calmed down initially, the video showed another argument erupting, which unravelled into more fighting. The video’s duration is about two minutes.
While all this was going on players from both teams were all still on the ice, many watching the scene unfold.
It's been reported the RCMP are investigating.
The game had been a "home" contest for Wilkie. Their home arena was badly damaged by fire in October and the team played out of Unity this season.
It is not entirely clear who was involved in the fights or where they were from, but it appears no one from either team was involved, based on statements from the two teams Thursday.
After the video went viral, the Wilkie Outlaws went on Facebook with their statement on the situation:
"No one from the Wilkie Outlaws Hockey Club was involved in the fights at the end of the game and to the best of our knowledge no one from the town of Wilkie was involved either."
The Biggar Nationals also issued their statement on Facebook to say they had nothing to do with the brawl either.
"The Biggar Nationals Hockey Club is in no way connected with the events that occurred after the game on March 29. The actions of few can't spoil the support of many. Thank you to our fans for the positive support our team received throughout the season."
This is not the only video to go viral in recent weeks involving the end of a hockey game. The Weyburn Red Wings ended up in a bench-clearing brawl with the Flin Flon Bombers in the Manitoba city a week earlier, after a Weyburn player had picked up a moose leg that had been thrown onto the ice following that SJHL playoff game.
Video from that contest also went viral on social media. The Bombers played the Battlefords North Stars Friday and Saturday at the Civic Centre.
