Hockey Brawl Breaks Out After Player Snatches Opponent’s Chain Before A Faceoff

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There’s a very long list of misdeeds that can lead to hockey players deciding to drop their gloves and fight, and it appears we can add “having your chain snatched on the ice” to that lineup of excuses based on what unfolded during a recent OHL game.

There are a ton of athletes who rocked jewelry while playing, but those pieces of bling can also lead to some pretty heated incidents; Cam Newton tried to fight multiple members of the Dolphins after one of them grabbed his necklace, and Michael Crabtree fell victim to a couple of chain-snatching incidents in back-to-back weeks in 2017.

It’s hard to blame players for getting heated over an objectively disrespectful slight, and Alex Kostov certainly checked that box thanks to what unfolded during a preseason game between the Soo Greyhounds and the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League on Wednesday.

It’s not entirely clear what led up to the incident in question, although it’s safe to assume there was already a fair amount of chirping going on between Kostov (a forward for the Greyhounds) and Wolves center Landon McCallum before the latter approached his opponent prior to a faceoff and forcibly yanked the chain he was wearing off of his neck.

While Kostov initially turned to a nearby official in the hopes of getting a call, he quickly opted to take matters into his own hands by chasing down McCallum and hitting him with a left hook to spark a melee that also saw Greyhounds winger Jordan D’Intino and Wolves center Nathan Villeneuve trade some punches.

McCallum’s squad plays in the same city as the fictional Sudbury (Blueberry) Bulldogs from Shoresy, so it’s kind of appropriate someone on the Wolves would pull an incredibly out-of-the-box move in an attempt to get under a player’s skin.

However, he had to know he was going to end up in the penalty box as a result.