St. Cloud-Bismarck melee fuels penalty-filled NAHL contest, multiple suspensions

BISMARCK — The Bismarck Bobcats picked up a 7-4 win over the St. Cloud Norsemen Saturday at the VFW Sports Center, but it wasn't the score that got the junior hockey world talking.

The two teams combined for 226 penalty minutes in the contest, with St. Cloud's Jake Hosszu and Bismarck's Adam Pietila each receiving 69 penalty minutes apiece. The teams tangled throughout, but the brunt of the penalties were assessed after a massive brawl midway through the third period.

As a result of the melee, Hosszu received a two-minute instigator minor, a five-minute fighting major, a 10-minute fighting misconduct, a 10-minute misconduct for continuing an altercation, a 20-minute instigator misconduct and a 20-minute misconduct for abuse of an official — all at 8:23 of the third period. Hosszu and teammate Wyatt Wurst were listed as suspended on St. Cloud's line chart before the Norsemen's contest against Minot Sunday night.

The length of those suspensions is not known. The NAHL said it does announce suspensions and the St. Cloud Norsemen said team policy is not to comment on player suspensions.

The league however does have policy established for fighting on its code of conduct page . Serious infractions may include suspensions and/or fines levied against the team.