If there's one thing that professional sports leagues don't like, it's seeing players get into altercations with fans. With that in mind, I think it's safe to say that Vancouver's Rick Rypien is staring down the likelihood of a major suspension after attacking a fan last night in Minnesota.
The incident came in the second period of a 6-2 Wild win, after Rypien was assessed a double minor for roughing and a game misconduct for a scuffle with Minnesota's Brad Staubitz. As Rypien headed for the Vancouver locker room, he reached into the stands and attempted to grab a fan who was apparently heckling him.
In this clip, you can see the aftermath of the clash with Staubitz, followed by the actual incident. Afterwards, the fan and a companion of his were removed from the seats near the Canucks bench, but were allowed to stay in the arena and watch the game from some other choice seats.
While nobody should reach premature conclusions about exactly what happened between Rypien and the fan, the video shows that the fan was doing nothing more than applauding Rypien's exit from the game—and that in fact it was Rypien who initiated the contact. That's something that's a little easier to see in this fan video that uses a DVR to slow down the action:
Despite the fact that the NHL rulebook says that any altercation with a fan will result in an immediate ejection, Rypien actually returned to the Vancouver bench, though he never got back on the ice. Safe to say, it'll probably be a while before Rypien gets to watch the game from that close for a while. Expect a lengthy suspension, and we probably won't have to wait long before Colin Campbell lays down the law in this case.
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