GSHC must be doing something right: There were no less than 10 North American players on its roster when the season began, including ex-NHLers Rico Fata and Dan Fritsche, along with Swiss-born Yannick Weber of the Montreal Canadiens.
Perhaps it's the location. Or the facilities. Maybe it's their head coach, Chris McSorley, younger brother of Marty.
Or the fact that things can get a little whacky in the Swiss league, as they did on Tuesday night when GSHC and HC Lugano had this brawl at the end of the second period — complete with a goalie fight:
From Mr. Upsidown, who also had the clip on YouTube:
A brawl at the end of the second third involving many players and the two goalies, Tobias Stephan and Daniel Manzato. Players involved: Dan Fritsche, Goran Bezina, Kevin Romy, Logan Couture, Roland Gerber, Yannick Weber, Tobias Stephan (GSHC) and Johann Morant, Brett McLean, Julien Vauclair, Glen Metropolit, Daniel Manzato (HC Lugano). Geneva Servette won this game 4:3 in Lugano.
(By the way: Luca Sbisa and Patrice Bergeron are on the Lugano roster, and both scored in the game.)
Not only did GSHC win, but in wild fashion: Two goals in the last three minutes of the game to pull out the victory. It was the capper on a wild night that included fans throwing fruit from the stands.
From Couture's Twitter feed:
Never seen a hockey game like that. Ref hit by fans, coins, oranges nails thrown on the ice..comeback win with two late goals. #hockeybaby
— Logan Couture (@Logancouture) October 30, 2012
@mercpurdy make the mistake of celebrating infront of their fans. A lighter and nail missed me by inches — Logan Couture (@Logancouture) October 30, 2012
And Dan Fritsche:
Goalie fight, ref getting drilled by some object, and 2 goals in 3 min to come back and win it. This is what #GSHC is all about! — Danny Fritsche (@Dfritsche49) October 30, 2012
And two from John Fritsche:
Tonight I watched a referee get hit in the head with a flag pole ....... I love Swiss hockey #passionofthefans — Johnny Fritsche (@JFritsch91) October 30, 2012
Very funny to see @yanweber68 facial expression when an orange came inches from his face .... #luganofans
— Johnny Fritsche (@JFritsch91) October 30, 2012
According to this article, there was a controversial goal scored for GSHC and then another by Logan Couture, whose celebration antagonized the Lugano fans. The locals were rowdy for the rest of the game.
Said Juraj Simek, who scored the game-winner in the 4-3 victory:
"This is something I've never seen. I think this has nothing to do with sports. It was not ok, the second goal so as to show a cheer, but the reaction of the fans was bottom of the barrel.''
Seriously, who throws an orange? Or a flag pole for that matter …
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