Toledo Walleye forward Kirill Tyutyayev took the McNugget Minute a little too seriously on Wednesday. During a game between the Walleye and the Kalamazoo Wings, a child threw a chicken nugget onto the ice, halting play.
The 23-year-old Russian took matters into his own hands and shot the crispy nugget back into the crowd so play could continue. Tyutyayev, a 2019 seventh-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings, was issued a 10-minute misconduct for his clean-up efforts.
At an early ECHL game kids, a chicken nugget was thrown on the ice. Kirill Tyutyayev shot it back into the crowd and was assessed a 10-minute misconduct 😳
(via @SportsiCohn) pic.twitter.com/THMISK2w9m
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 6, 2023
The play happened 8:43 into the second period. The Walleye would end up losing the game 6-2 after Kalamazoo scored six unanswered goals.
“Something gets thrown onto ice — at a morning kids game in Toledo — and Kirill Tyutyayev shoots it back into crowd,” The Journal Gazette’s Justin A. Cohn wrote on Twitter. “Gets a 10-minute misconduct. Gonna be interesting to see if league gives supplemental discipline. It’s pretty vanilla, but they don’t like shooting into stands.”
Scouting the Refs, a fantastic source for all things refereeing, says Tyutyayev was issued his misconduct for violation of Rule 39.4, which states that “a misconduct penalty (or game misconduct penalty at the discretion of the referee) shall be imposed on any player who deliberately throws any equipment out of the playing area.”
Under that ruling, chicken nuggets are now to be considered hockey equipment. No word on if this particular nugget was team-issued or not.
Screenshot via @SportsiCohn/X
