The first game of the IIHF World Championships for both Canada and the Czech Republic seemed to start off fine, with team captains Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek exchanging pleasantries before puck drop.
Two captains: Giroux & Voracek #CZEvsCAN #IIHFWorlds #Flyers pic.twitter.com/g1g1gtMiY2
— maria (@puckducky) May 5, 2017
Oh, that didn’t last.
Just nine minutes, 51 seconds into the first period, a bit of a dust-up took place between the two squads. I don’t know exactly how it started because I live in the United States of America and therefore cannot watch this game on television because our sports networks are still too busy talking about the friggin’ NFL Draft.
But I do know that Radko Gudas threw a punch at Giroux.
Radko Gudas just punched his #Flyers teammate Claude Giroux. That was odd. #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/NOm0jcdRTI
— Steven Ellis (@StevenEllisNHL) May 5, 2017
It’s a little tough to see at first glance, but it’s quick there as Gudas skates up to Nathan MacKinnon. He throws his arm out and it catches Giroux, who goes down and hits the ice. Giroux seems fine, and it’s quite possible that Gudas didn’t even realize who he was throwing at, as he didn’t even really look.
No-look punch pic.twitter.com/tUxjwdFE3w
— Jason Brough (@JasonPHT) May 5, 2017
Then again, Giroux had been involved in some stuff before this. He apparently jabbed a guy with his stick after the faceoff, which could be what Gudas was reacting to.
MacKinnon was given two minutes for interference, Gudas was given two minutes for roughing and Giroux was given two minutes for high sticking on all of this.
I feel funny. I don’t like seeing our parents fight.