The Dundee Stars ice hockey club have been fined £1,000 for a pre-game clash that occurred while two young mascots were on the ice.
The Elite League’s Department of Player Safety said there was “no excuse” for the incident which saw the Stars clash with their Braehead Clan opponents before the face-off at Dundee Ice Arena on Sunday evening.
It has also contacted all Elite League teams to warn against similar incidents in the future.
A video was posted on YouTube showing the Sunday night confrontation, which began with two players but escalated to involve all players from both teams.
One young mascot was caught up in the fracas and appears trapped by the boards before skating free a short time later.
Both the Stars and the Braehead Clan have been fined £1,000 while Clan player Chris Frank has been fined £500 and banned for one match for his part in the confrontation.
A statement from the Elite League’s Department of Player Safety following a review of the incident said: “Braehead #13 Zack Fitzgerald and Dundee #20 Brad Plumton are on their respective halves of the ice during the warm-up.
“However, instead of taking part in the team warm-up, they are making verbal remarks at each other. Stars captain #12 Chris Blight comes in between Fitzgerald and Plumton, at which point Clan #22 Chris Frank skates at the group of players and makes body contact with Blight.
“This causes the situation to escalate and initiates a gathering of both teams at the centre red line, where more verbal and physical contact is made between this initial group of players and the full sets of players from both teams.
“The coming together of both teams is broken up by one of the match night officials, who in the end has to stay on the ice and watch the remainder of the warm-up.
“There is no excuse for incidents like this to take place in warm-up and with there being mascots on the ice, this type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and dangerous – and will not be tolerated.”
The league has posted a full video of the incident that explains their judgement.