BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A brawl before an American Hockey League game that left a Rochester Americans player injured and nine players ejected from the match prompted calls Friday for a police investigation of sports violence.
Councilman Vincent LoVallo termed the April 11 incident at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium a 'savage attack with skates and sticks' and, in a letter to Buffalo Police, asked whether local law enforcement officials are authorized to probe the fight.
'I'm not looking to take fighting out of the sport. I don't think you can, and that's not my role,' LoVallo told The Buffalo News.
'But it wasn't a fight, it was the use of weapons to maim a human being. They were kicking and spearing.'
The brawl happened when Andy Ristau of Rochester and Jeff Brubaker of the Hershey Bears exchanged words during the warmup for the second game of a best-of-seven league semifinal playoff series.
A videotape of the fight shows the two tumbled on the ice while slugging it out and two other Hershey players, Kevin Maxwell and Greg Smyth, attacked Ristau with their sticks while he attempted to shield himself.
Brubaker continued punching Ristau while the two other Bears speared him. Ristau was also kicked and appeared to go into convulsions during the attack. Other Hershey players stopped Ristau's teammates from rescuing him, and several other fights broke out as a result.
Brubaker and Maxwell were suspended by the AHL for two games. Smyth was suspended for the remainder of the seven-game playoff series, the first two games of which were played in Buffalo because of a previously scheduled circus at the Rochester War Memorial.
Rochester won the first two games and took a 3-1 series lead into Game 5 in Rochester Friday night.
Ristau, who was suspended for one game, was hospitalized for a concussion and bruises on his spine. After spending several days at home, the right winger began practicing with the team Friday, but was not expected to play against Hershey again in the semifinals.
Both Ristau and league president Jack Butterfield said they consider the fight a closed issue.
