Fan throws beer bottle on the ice and attempts to fight a player.

An absolutely wild scene took place this week but this isn't the kind of stuff you're going to see in the National Hockey League. Brandon McNally of the Cardiff Devils has found himself suspended and fined for two games in the Elite Ice Hockey League, an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom, but that might be the least interesting part of this story. 

McNally went ballistic during the second period of a game between the aforementioned Devils and the Dundee Stars that was contested on Wednesday, and his antics were so over the top that it even prompted members of the audience to get involved. McNally was initially assessed only a minor penalty on the play but when officials instructed him to head to the penalty box he began attacking several other members of the Stars, with the officials on the ice totally losing control.

McNally ripped the helmet off of one player and began throwing punches at him. Even after 3 different officials tried to restrain McNally he continued to rain blows down on his defenseless opponent, who by this time had already fallen to the ice and was in a very vulnerable position. Even after the officials finally managed to pry him off he continued his rampage, attacking Stars captain Drydn Dow by shoving him with both hands to the face.

It was at this point that one fan in the audience had seen enough, and in a reckless outburst of anger he threw what appeared to be a beer bottle out onto the ice. The bottle hit the ice but somehow did not break, perhaps it was made of plastic, and it splashed both McNally and the official escorting him away with beer.

McNally had seemingly not had enough by this point either so he promptly challenged the fan to come down from his seat and fight him, something that the fan seemed all too happy to oblige. The fan quickly charged down the stairs and towards McNally, but cooler heads prevailed as several people stepped in between the two before things could escalate even further.

If an incident of this nature ever occurred at the NHL level no doubt there would be a much more severe suspension than a mere 2 games, and no doubt the fan involved in the altercation would find himself barred from ever attending any games in the NHL ever again. In fact I wouldn't be surprised to see an incident like this in the NHL result in criminal charges, so it may very well be that everyone here got off lightly. The EIHL has explained that McNally's clean history, he had never before been fined or suspended, played a factor in the relatively lenient penalty.

The folks at Jomby Media provide some hilarious commentary on the whole incident in the video below:

If you're looking for a more serious review of what went down, the Elite Ice Hockey League's Department of Player Safety has provided a full breakdown of the incident and an explanation of its ruling in the video below: