On Sunday night, we wrote about an incident involving Anaheim Ducks fans and Columbus Blue Jackets players who were seated in the penalty box in the third period — an incident that delayed their game for roughly five minutes and led to the ejection of spectators.
Reader Alan is a season-ticket holder for the Ducks and attended last night's game. He didn't see the initial flashpoint between the fans and Derek MacKenzie, Derek Dorsett and Jared Boll but saw the aftermath.
Here's Alan:
"It was obvious the fans got under Boll's and Dorsett's skin. There were three players in the box at that time; after bush league play on Columbus' part on the ice.
"I watched for 5 minutes as Boll primarily stood up and was jawing at the fans and even motioned that he would squirt water on them at one point. It appeared that Boll was challenging the fans to extra activities and further instigated the whole thing. Boll had every opportunity to stop and he chose not to. Referees stopped the game for more than 5 minutes and was talking to the players in the box. To me they were warning the players not to interact with the fans. I think Columbus should have received a deal of game as well.
"At no time did I see anything wrong with what the fans were doing. They made no obscene gestures or was throwing anything. It appeared to be smack talk between them. The fans got a reaction and the players fueled it.
"The first two guys that got escorted out, both in Orange, were sitting right next to the girl in the Orange in your picture; directly behind the penalty box. She refused to leave with the two other guys initially and was eventually led out by police. I did not see her once stand up or confront the players, the other two guys in Orange did, but I assume she was with them. The guy in the hooded sweatshirt in your picture was actually sitting in the second row behind the penalty box and he appeared to be the one that got under Boll's skin the most and was verbally jawing with all the players in the box."
So there you go. A little yelling, a little squirting and police involvement. A good night at the 'ol barn if there ever was one.