A now-viral brawl between youth hockey players during a Mites on Ice intermission segment has sparked discussion around the hockey world.
At a January 10 game between the AHL’s Hershey Bears and Cleveland Monsters, under-8 players from the Central Penn Panthers Youth Ice Hockey Club took to the ice for what seemed to be another ordinary intra-squad scrimmage between periods of pro hockey.
As the play went on, things changed quickly as the elementary schoolers decided to do their best Hanson Brothers impersonations and brawled all over the Giant Center ice.
RMNB’s Ian Oland, via Leah Hollenbach, and ABC27 News’s Allie Berube posted the videos of the all-out melee.
Instead of trying to score goals, the kids threw hits and gloved punches, tackled one another to form pileups on the ice, and then jumped on top of each other. Some of the fighting even included players getting in a few shots at their own teammates in the scrimmage.
The recent rough stuff isn’t the first fighting to happen during a Mites on Ice scrimmage, as FloHockey broadcast another brawl between kids during the first intermission of a December 20 game between the Bears and Bridgeport Islanders.
While most of the crowd seemed to enjoy Saturday’s show and the players appeared to be just having fun, officials from the Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association were not pleased, likely because of the lack of adult intervention and disregard for safety concerns. The AAHA released a statement saying that the unpoliced brawl will result in disciplinary consequences:
We are aware of a staged fight that occurred at the Hershey Bears (AHL) game involving a Pennsylvania 8U team. Affiliate, league, and club officials are investigating the matter and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against those players and team officials involved with the staged fight.
This intermission game was not sanctioned by USA Hockey or the Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association.
The Central Penn Panthers are a youth hockey organization that hosts 13 teams in age groups ranging from under-8 to under-18 for the 2025-26 season.
The program sports an impressive list of alums who have gone on to play college and professional hockey, including current Chicago Blackhawks forward Nick Foligno and former Syracuse Crunch goaltender John Murray.
They released their own statement on Facebook about the “staged” brawl:
We have been made aware of an incident that occurred last night during the “Mites on Ice” event between periods of the Hershey Bears game. The safety, well-being, and positive experience of all participants—especially our young players—are of the utmost importance.
We are currently conducting an internal review to fully understand the circumstances surrounding the incident. This review will include gathering information from all relevant parties and assessing the situation thoroughly and responsibly.
At this time, we believe it is important to allow this process to take place before drawing conclusions. We appreciate the patience and understanding of our families, partners, and community as we work through this matter.
The Bears also released a statement, indicating that the situation will impact how they handle Mites on Ice intermission games in the future:
We love hockey, and we take great pride in supporting youth hockey as the foundation of its future.
What occurred during last night’s youth scrimmage involving one team (split into two sides) held during an intermission of a Hershey Bears game did not reflect the values of the sport or the standards we expect when young athletes are on the ice. Hockey must always be played within the rules, with safety as the top priority.
The Hershey Bears are proud to provide opportunities for young players to experience the game in a professional environment. At the same time, we cannot support or allow conduct that puts participants at risk.
The Hershey Bears do not have a role in the intersquad scrimmage play, other than providing the ice for the players. The team’s coaches direct and supervise play on the ice.
We are reviewing this matter and will work closely with participating teams and partners to ensure clear safeguards, supervision and expectations are in place for any future youth activities held during our games. Our focus remains on protecting young players and upholding the integrity of the sport.
We also direct you to the statement made this morning by the Central Penn Panthers Youth Ice Hockey Club regarding yesterday’s on-ice activity from their team, as well as the statement from the Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association.
As of now, no injuries to any of the players involved in the fracas have been reported.
After blowing up on social media, the video of the fights has been shown or mentioned on ESPN’s SportsCenter, Hockey Night in Canada, NBC News, and various other sports outlets worldwide.
