An absolutely insane brawl broke out at the Women’s Hockey World Championship D3A this weekend.
Bulgaria and Romania hit the ice to battle it out. But along the way, they not only hit the ice but there were several more hits on the ice. This is not unusual for hockey, of course, but it doesn’t detract from how wild this got.
According to Hockey Worldwide, a whopping 554 penalty minutes were distributed!
In the beginning of the video, a Bulgarian player and a Romanian player converged by the boards. The Romanian player appeared to trip the Bulgarian, leading to a tie-up and the Romanian player dropping to the ice.
As soon as both ladies hit the ice, two Bulgarian teammates swooped in and tackled the Romanian who sparked the initial tie-up with the trip. That’s when chaos broke loose.
Eventually, a gaggle of Bulgarian and Romanian players hit the scene and started getting active. Punches were thrown by both sides and the benches emptied out.
The Romanian goaltender got involved as well. At around 0:27 of the video, they could be seen striking a Bulgarian player who was on top of her teammate. Their fights continued as the goaltender refused to stay away, sniffed around, and continued to pick fights with the opposition. A referee could be seen trying to shoo her away from the scene.
After that happened, yet another skirmish broke out between several more Bulgarian and Romanian players.
BENCH CLEARING BRAWL AT THE WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP D3A BETWEEN ROMANIA AND BULGARIA 🇷🇴🇧🇬
554 penalty minute game.
🎥: Taylor Cheng on Facebook. pic.twitter.com/Qg2lRyDkHU
— Hockey Worldwide (@H0ckeyWorldwide) April 9, 2023
You sure don’t see a hockey brawl like that too often.
According to Hockey Worldwide, a total of 19 players were penalized. Officials also issued a 20-minute penalty to Romania for abuse of officials.
The sports world reacted to the insane brawl, which went viral after it happened.
Over nine hours worth of penalties. 🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/Q8ODSLSjb3
— x – Ms. Mambo (@Ms_Mambo) April 10, 2023
This is crazy. When was the last time you saw this in an international competition? https://t.co/tqkrJbxCtg
— Mike (@HabsLaughs) April 10, 2023
Number 7 in yellow is hilarious. She comes flying in, then won’t go near anyone and then skates off just as fast. LOL https://t.co/RCP6XIndk9
— Trade Deadline Anticipator (@Expittriate) April 10, 2023
This was not on my Women's Worlds bingo card. https://t.co/fPjtXkdqoh
— YHH (@YouthHockeyHub) April 10, 2023
The orange goalie, y'all… https://t.co/my9iTnctOu
— Лёня (@ethics13) April 10, 2023
https://twitter.com/BirchDuck/status/1645169490160672769
