The National Lacrosse League is looking into an ugly incident involving Halifax Thunderbirds defenseman Tyson Bell over the weekend. He needed to be pulled off of a fan after punching him in the face and hitting him over the head with his stick.
Further comment on what happened will be provided after the league concludes its investigation. For now, all we can go off of is a video of the altercation.
Bell is an eight-year professional lacrosse veteran in the NLL and to say that he is a character would be an understatement. He is always up to something.
With that being said, Bell is not the most even-tempered player in the league. It is very easy to set him off— as we saw on Saturday. Halifax suffered its third-straight loss to begin the new season.
A group of lacrosse fans gathered outside of the walkway from the box to the locker room after the game. One of the fans appeared to flip Bell the bird. Two of them chirped in his direction. Although it is unclear as to what they might’ve said, their heckling did not go over well.
Tyson Bell lost his temper.
Bell immediately turned back toward the opposing fans with anger in his eyes. He charged in their direction and threw a right hook to the head. As the fans retreated, the 30-year-old pushed aside the (not-so) protective barrier and kept on the attack.
Fortunately, a nearby staffer and some of Bell’s Thunderbirds teammates were able to pull him off before things got even more out of hand. However, the fans did not back far enough away so Bell caught one of them with a vicious stick check.
The Anger issues in the @NLL the past couple years have been disgusting and bad for the sport. They need to clean it up!! pic.twitter.com/sflRHQqroc
— lax cow (@laxcow) December 23, 2024
As the above video continues to go extremely viral on social media, the National Lacrosse League is on the case. It will work tirelessly to figure out why Tyson Bell lost his cool in such a manner.
The National Lacrosse League is aware of an alleged incident between a player and spectator(s) following the Halifax at Colorado game on December 21st. The League will provide and update after it has completed its investigation.
— NLL
The Thunderbirds return to the lacrosse box on Saturday. Will Tyson Bell be allowed to play? Considering the timing of this investigation, with it falling right on Christmas, we probably won’t find out until Friday at the earliest. A suspension could be handed down at any time, even if Bell continues to play in the next few games while the league continues to look into the incident.