Sometimes, as a hockey fan, you read stories about the behavior of others at games that make you want to grab the jerk and scream "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TERRIBLE YOU'RE MAKING THE REST OF US LOOK?!"
Which brings us to this delightful holiday tale from a recent San Jose Sharks home game.
According to the Mercury News, 16-year-old Maggie Herger had the audacity to wear a Vancouver Canucks jersey to their Wednesday night victory at HP Pavilion Arena.
A native Canadian, she's always been a fan of the team, especially when Canucks players visited her in the hospital four years ago when she had surgery to remove a tumor from her brain. Please keep this last bit of information in mind, going forward.
From the Mercury News, and according to Herger:
One intoxicated woman wearing a Sharks jersey, who appeared to be in her 40s, kept bumping into the teens and yelling curses at them, the two sisters said.
Then, as the fans jumped up to celebrate a second period Sharks goal, the sisters said, the woman behind them brought down both her hands and smacked Maggie in the back of her head "really hard," forcing Maggie to fall forward and leaving her dazed. Her sister then rushed to an usher. Maya said she heard the woman tell the usher "she's a Canucks fan," but that she "didn't mean to" hurt her.
… Maggie said that after being hit, ushers and paramedics rushed her into an ambulance, and that's when another Sharks fan walked by and noticed the girl's Canucks gear."He looked in and said, 'You're faking it, you don't need an ambulance, suck it up,' " she recalled, tearing up.
The family told the paper that Herger suffered a "slight concussion" from the incident, but that her benign brain tumor "was not impacted by the hit." No word if the intoxicated woman has a phone hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety because of the concussion …
Seriously, though: This is just a terrible story, and we're happy to hear the aftermath wasn't more catastrophic. And while the alleged assailant did something deplorable here, is it wrong that we'd rather see the person who told a 16-year-old girl in an ambulance to "suck it up" because she's "faking it" run over multiple times by an onrushing Zamboni?
UPDATE: Thanks to NBC Bay Area for this clip featuring the girl and her mother:
View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.
Also, via the AP: According to the Sharks, the other fan told police and arena staff the contact was accidental and occurred during the celebration of a Sharks goal.
s/t @jcsheridan226 for the link.