Bloody boards at the Winnipeg Jets' Canada Life Centre after a fight in the stands on Nov. 29, 2022. Bloody boards at the Winnipeg Jets’ Canada Life Centre after a fight in the stands on Nov. 29, 2022. (@BSendrowski on Twitter.)

Fights sometimes happen on the ice in NHL games, but a major one in the stands is unusual. That happened in Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre Tuesday during the hometown Jets‘ game against the Colorado Avalanche, though. The fight broke out at the start of the third period, and it led to two spectators being led away in handcuffs. A third spectator was helped out of the arena after a tackle led to them falling down the stairs and hitting their head on the boards, leading to the blood on the boards seen above. Here’s one video of that from a cross-ice angle:

Here’s video from an angle behind the fight:

The Winnipeg Sun has more on what happened:

Two spectators wearing what appeared to be Avalanche jerseys were escorted away by Winnipeg Police after fellow fans moved to separate the combatants. A third fan in a Jets jersey had to be assisted after falling down the stairs and appearing to crack their head on the boards. Fans got Jets players and on-ice officials to bring over a bunch of towels to help out the bleeding victim who waved to the crowd as they were being helped up the stairs. There was no word on what started the fracas or if charges were laid.

Here’s another video of the aftermath of the fight, from Carter Brooks of Game On Hockey:

Brooks also got a photo of the one fan being led out in handcuffs:

A fan led out after a fight in the stands at an Avalanche-Jets game.

There have been several fights in the stands at sporting events this year, which isn’t great to see. And this one’s particularly frightening when it comes to the one fan’s fall down the stairs, and them hitting their head on the boards. Hopefully that fan is all right.

[The Winnipeg Sun, top image from @BSendrowski on Twitter]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.