Voila_Capture 2014-04-30_09-02-24_AM

Reader Matt checks in. Here’s his (mostly-unedited) email. It’s a tad hard to read, but gives a lot of detail. We’ll just assume it’s completely unbiased:

so my brother & i were seated in 207 & witnessed the whole story.

only reason i am writing this is because people will say “typical philadelphia” behavior beating innocent ranger fans

im not one to back the idiot fans of our local franchises who look to beat up anyone wearing an opposing jersey, i believe those idiots should be banned for life from the stadiums.

anyway…

you had 4 rangers bros (looked like big eminem/macklemore fans) in the upper rows of 208. they received the complimentary “asshole” chant as did many other rangers fans in attendance who took it in stride and were not beaten unlike these 4 morons. there 2 out of the 4 who seemed to enjoy the attention & instigate the 300 flyers fans around them like their favorite wrestler john cena would do. there was 1 little guy wearing a backwards cap (hip hop style with he huge crown) who you could see screaming at the flyers fans sitting around him, standing on his chair and putting 2 middle fingers up in the air just like his boy pac would do & would also pull the same 2 middle finger stunt at the entrance to the concourse level. these antics went on the entire game & it seemed everyone would just give the kid the roll of the eyes & enjoy the game.

considering the game started with a walter white video clip (great choice by the way) this kid should of be warned to “tread lightly”

after carl hagelin scored a meaningless goal in a game the rangers had already given up at the start of the 3rd period, these rangers fans decided to celebrate as if it was a game 7 overtime winner. it was met with a response chant of “scoreboard, scoreboard, scoreboard” by the flyers faithful whose limits had pushed by this foresome like someone who you’d really like to punch in the face.

at this point it caught the attention of wells fargo security who appeared out of the concourse entrance tunnel to see whats going on. it was a female security officer who looked to be too nice to be doing security. a pretty solid looking flyers fan walked up to her & said “you need to move these rangers fans up here or their going to get their asses kicked”. the security guard approached the 4 ranger fans & notified them they had to leave. they refused loudly & put up a protest, i mean who wouldn’t when your team is losing by 4 goals with 7 minutes left and threat of an impending mob-like beating hanging over your head?

bro in the backwards cap was screaming at the female security guard when bro # 2 told him to “sit down, were not leaving”. so a second male security guard, probably a good dad, appeared & also tried to remove the ranger bros. once again they refused and continued to instigate with flyer fans in the section. flyers fans then sticking up for their security guards, bizarro world, began telling the rangers bros they had to go. shoves were pushed, punches were thrown & noses were bloodied.

i dont agree with the whole fighting culture at sports, but when you put yourself in that position its on you.

these were not innocent bystanders who randomly selected for a beating because “were philadelphia”. there were plenty of ranger fans in attendance, who were boo’d & asshole’d but just smiled and went on their business or would actually talk hockey and not make it a hatfield vs mccoy rivalry.

im all for traveling to other stadiums and watching your team, but don’t be an asshole about it. its just a fucking game.

(this is probably painful to read considering i can’t write for shit. apologies for the tremendous amount of run-ons, fragments & other shit i should have learned in 6th & 7th grade)

No problem, Matt. Thanks for the detail. You’re now a published author.

Another account:

Rangers fans came in and let it be known they were here. Pretty quiet after first 10 mins, but got a bit louder and aggressive at 10:00 or so in 3rd.

Lots of barking back and forth , finally fists were thrown. Rangers guy in Oshie jersey went at it first and hit lots of haymakers, then a Flyers guy started pummeling one of them. Dude walked out bloodied.

Hard to point fingers. Rangers fans were asking for trouble when they started chirping in 3rd. Lots of middle fingers pointed, jeering. Eventually, things escalated. I never condone fights in the stands but it was provoked for sure. Saw lots of other Rangers fans tonight, everyone else was respectful.

The first account is from an unknown reader. The second account is from someone I know. Both tell a similar story: that there was plenty of provocation from the Rangers fans. Not surprising.

Video of the fight here.