Home / Featured /

Vancouver Canucks Tough Guy Rick Rypien Nearly Channels His Inner Terry O’Reilly

By / 15 comments

Down 5-1 to the Minnesota Wild, Canucks enforcer Rick Rypien, in a vain attempt to fire up his teammates, tried to goad Minnesota’s Brad Staubitz into yet another fight.  Only this time, the officials intervened immediately and before the scrap could get going, separated the pair.

Rypien was assessed a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct before being sent off.  It was right about then that Rypien thought it would be a good idea to give the official a shove, which, as you probably know,  is never a good idea.

What happened next though is much, much worse.

A youngish looking Wild fan gave Rypien a sarcastic clap as he headed down the hallway towards the dressing room, a gesture Rypien didn’t take too kindly.  So he did what any normal, rational person would do—he went after the fan, grabbing him by the shirt, before teammate Manny Malhotra pulled him away.

Video of Rypien’s assault after the jump…

Sure, that barely qualifies as assault, but who knows how far Rypien was ready to take it had Malhotra and the fan’s companion not intervened.  And if you’re wondering, the fan and his buddy weren’t kicked out, but rather they were moved to a different section.

Rypien can expect a call from Colin Campbell tomorrow, no doubt to discuss the Canuck forward’s forthcoming unpaid vacation from hockey.

[H/T to Hockey Wilderness]

 

About the author: Jeff Greenwell

 

Jeff Greenwell is the writer/editor of Last Angry Fan. Jeff has been known to rock a Speedo while belting out Robert Goulet tunes from his front porch, and in his spare time he enjoys capturing and training feral goats to be his minions. Also known to dig a nice brick of cheese from time to time.

Website: http://lastangryfan.com

 

Editor's Picks

 
  • den

    He should be fined and suspended, no excuse, the fan did nothing, absolutely nothing to receive a response like that.

  • Jason Murray

    What a temper tantrum…Fans are going to cheer for their team. Grow up Rypien and enjoy your vacation.

  • Rick

    Brilliant Rypien. Attack the folks who pay your salary. I think sitting out for a season should alter his thinking. Anything less sends a different message.

    • Ryan

      I completely agree. This was uncalled for and if the punishment is not severe, what is to stop the next guy from pulling a fan right out of his seat?

  • Rudy

    As an avid hockey fan it is very disturbing to see a response like this from a player against a fan who did nothing other than sarcastically clap, as the player left the ice.

    When will the NHL realize goons like Rypien need to be exiled from the league. clean-up the fighting. Until something is done, hockey will remain a second tier sport.

  • Joe

    get rid of him, atheletes like that should not be allowed to play in a professional sport.

  • Kim

    WOW, I have had season tix to a lower level hockey team for over 15 years and seen it all including something like this. This guy needs a min 10 game if not a 15 game suspension. The fan did nothing wrong.

  • Pingback: Video: Canucks’ Enforcer Rick Rypien Pushes Fan..Almost Starts Riot | Robert Littal Presents BlackSportsOnline

  • Michael W

    The question is WHY were the fans removed??? They did nothing but clap and this d*mn clown should be suspended for 30 games!!

  • Louis Teerlinck

    I was at the game. It looked like the 2 fans were booted out, but later they were shown on the big screen being seated right on the glass. The crowd went absolutely bananas cheering for these guys, who did nothing wrong.

  • waddywoos

    So they moved the fans from their really expensive seats right behind the players bench to another section, which is obviously going to be worth alot less on the ticket value. So when are they being given a free ticket to the next game or a full refund?

  • Corey

    Rypien was greatly out of line in that show of anger he shouldnt of touched a fan regardless of age and team he’s rooting for this incident no doubt will only feed the controversy surounding the NHL and the start of the season roughness that people can’t seem to handle anymore Rypien should be suspended. that is ridiculous.

  • Beth

    Wow… it was out of line but I don’t think the guy needs to be benched for the rest of the season. All he did was grab the guys shirt. He didn’t even hit him.
    Whatev…

  • D-Me

    Doesn’t matter if “..all he did was grab the guys shirt..”. The point is that a player shouldn’t touch a fan — period. It was stupid and a clear message needs to be sent that the league will not allow this behavior. A long vacation is definitely warranted.

  • Pingback: Rypien Gets Six Games, Fan Gets Call From Gary Bettman | The Last Angry Fan

 

More Sports

 
 
 
 

Post of the Week

 
 
 

Yardbarker

 
 

Facebook

 
 

Best Of The Web