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Last updated Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 6:34 PM

After a third-period fight between him and Laker forward Jeff Anonick, Davenport's Kevin Brojek rode Anonick's stick around the rink.

Fight overshadows weekend split for Laker icers

By Greg Monahan GVL Staff Writer
1/31/2010

Facing a bitter rival and a former teammate, the Grand Valley State University men's hockey team knew both games this weekend promised top-tier action and the possibility of players dropping the gloves. The games delivered on both counts.

Matched up against Davenport University and former teammate Matt Morang, GVSU beat the Panthers for the first time since 2007 on Friday night by a score of 5-2. On Saturday, however, things were not so pretty for the Lakers as they were shutout 5-0 in a game overshadowed by a brawl in the third period and 102 total penalty minutes.

In regards to Friday's contest, GVSU head coach Mike Forbes said his team played almost perfectly in beating the second-ranked Panthers.

"I thought we played a complete game and were very disciplined," he said. "We had great energy and supported the puck very well in all three zones. I don't know if I could ask for more as a coach from our team and the effort we got from everybody on Friday night, and I'm obviously very pleased with that outcome."

The following day was when the rivalry between Morang and his former team boiled over. Holding a convincing 5-0 lead with 13 minutes to play, Davenport forward Kevin Brojek and Laker forward Jeff Anonick got into a mix-up at center ice.

As Anonick and Brojek separated, Morang skated from outside the play and went after Anonick. The referees intervened after a few punches connected, but Morang continued to throw right hooks at the Laker forward, promptly earning Morang a game misconduct. Anonick was thrown out soon thereafter.

"If you look at the fight, Jeff was trying to pull back, and Matt was just swinging between the refs," said junior defenseman Jake Vaughan. "I'm dumbfounded that Jeff got kicked out and that he got more penalized than Matt. If you're just going to hop someone while they're helpless on the ice, that's not being a tough guy, that's being classless."

The scene did not end there, however, as Brojek then took Anonick's stick during the melee and rode off with it, twirling his hands in the air as the home crowd cheered. The bizarre sight was one Vaughan said he would like to forget.

"We were looking from our bench in shock," he said. "If anybody on our team did that, we'd beat them down and not let them back in the locker room. It's not something we condone at Grand Valley. If there's a scrum, it happens, just get up and shake it off. Both teams should respect each other."

After the game, Anonick, who was slapped with two game misconducts, one each for his altercations with Brojak and Morang, said the game was nothing out of the ordinary for the Panthers.

"That's just Davenport hockey," he said. "That's what they do every weekend. They try and get under everyone's skin, they chirp a lot, and that's how they carry themselves. They're classless."

GVSU will match-up against Michigan State University this weekend as the two teams prepare for a home-and-home series. The Lakers travel to East Lansing for a 9 p.m. puck drop on Friday before returning home for a face off at the same time on Saturday.

gmonahan@lanthorn.com

Comments:

2 comments

hockey fan : 2/5/2010
irony???

I attended the game last week and watching from the stands I disagree with the previous comment. It had nothing to do with bitterness because Morang left, it was the Panthers who were embarrassed by the 5-2 loss to the Lakers the night before. The Panthers are a great team, the fact that they stooped to playing goon hockey is classless. They were obviously winning yet that wasn't good enough, that they were still upset by their loss to the Lakers was evident.
I don't know what game the previous commenter was watching, I lost track of how many penalties the Panthers received because of checking Laker players from behind, the Lakers had to be aggressive. I am not saying that the Lakers were completely innocent either and they paid for it in penalties and goals scored against while being in the box.
As far as the fighting, it was between Anonick and Brojack what possessed Morang who was outside of the play to start pounding on Anonick. The previous commenter stated that he was cross checked and speared, it was still poor sportsmanship to jump into a fight that had nothing to do with him.
To say the Lakers were classless is a joke one only has to look at the above picture of Brojak riding off the ice on Anonick's stick while the home team cheered shows that it was the Panthers along with their fans who were the classless ones.

: 2/2/2010
irony

I find both this article and the one before quite ironic. While continuing to call Morang and the Panthers classless, the Grand Valley coach and players are implicitly showing their lack of class. Coming from an outsider, it seems interesting how Grand Valley insists on how happy they are without Morang and yet they're obviously bitter he left. In addition, do you really expect a kid not to defend himself when he's being speared and cross-checked by his former teammates? From my understanding, Grand Valley was known as one of the classiest and most respected clubs in the ACHA. Unfortunately, this perception has now drastically changed.