Minnesota Wild apologize for skit after mascot beats rival with a baseball bat

The Minnesota Wild apologized to fans after the NHL team faced criticism over a skit where the team’s mascot beat a rival mascot with a bat during an intermission on the ice.

During a gathering of NHL mascots at Thursday night's game against the Canadiens, the Wild were throwing a “birthday party” for their mascot Nordy, when he apparently took a pie to the face from the Chicago Blackhawks mascot named Tommy Hawk. 

Then, when the blindfolded Nordy was supposed to hit a piñata held by Tommy Hawk, he instead took aim and swung the bat to beat his rival mascot like from some scene from The Sopranos — enthusiastically urged on by the arena announcer to "keep swinging."

After about 10 fake hits another mascot, the New Jersey Devil, stepped in and stopped the mayhem while other mascots worked to drag Tommy Hawk off the ice. Smile if you remember Office Space.

via GIPHY

Some fans criticized the display of violence rarely seen at any hockey game (snicker) and thought the Wild was "promoting violence in front of thousands of people and kids."

Meanwhile...this happened at intermission. @NordyWild pic.twitter.com/UVxIFrMPrC

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 13, 2017

One Twitter mom asked, "How exactly should I explain this to my kids?" 

So, of course the NHL contacted the Wild before the team issued a statement about the fake violence on ice:

"We apologize to anyone offended by the mascot skit Thursday night. It was certainly not our intention." 

Maybe they should have added We'll leave that to the players.

Anaheim Ducks' Clayton Stoner hit with hunting ban for killing grizzly bear

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Clayton Stoner has been banned from hunting for three years and fined $10,000 for killing a grizzly bear on British Columbia’s central coast nearly three years ago.

Stoner acknowledged through his lawyer Wednesday that he had breached the provincial Wildlife Act during the hunt in May 2013. Lawyer Marvin Stern said his client mistakenly believed he was qualified to participate as a resident.

The hockey star wasn’t in the Abbotsford courtroom, but Stern pleaded guilty on Stoner's behalf to hunting without a license. Provincial court Judge Brent Hoy accepted that Stoner thought he was qualified as a resident, but the law had still been breached.

“If one hunts, then one must do so responsibility,” he said.

Stoner, who was with the Minnesota Wild at the time, had been widely criticized by animal rights groups after pictures of the NHL player holding the severed head and paws of the bear were made public.

But the bigger issue to many wildlife and nature advocates was hunting in general.

The incident had reignited passions over the hunting issue that has long divided British Columbia. The provincial government hands out 300 licenses each year and hunting generates more than $300-million in annual revenue for the state.

The government did drop four other charges against Stoner, including knowingly making a false statement to obtain a hunting license, hunting out of season and unlawfully possessing dead wildlife.

Stoner, who’s originally from Port McNeill on Vancouver Island, owns a home in Langford, B.C. To obtain a commercial trophy license, a hunter must reside in B.C. for at least half of each of six months in the previous year.

“For an NHL player ... they’re going to be out of the province for at least seven months,” Cryder told the court. “He hasn’t, in fact, qualified as a resident.”

Two women at center of huge brawl in stands during Avalanche-Wild game (VIDEO)

All hell broke loose after a woman slapped another woman during an argument in the stands during the Avalanche-Wild game last weekend.

A few rowdy fans had to be escorted out of the Pepsi Center another woman punched an Avalanche fan in the back of the head.

WARNING: Videos have naughty language.

There’s a point at which you actually see a guy in an Avalanche jersey reaching to choke the blonde woman in the leather jacket, though it’s hard to actually see what’s going down amid the chaos but, from another angle, you can actually see this woman take a swing at the dude's head.

Who wants to bet alcohol was involved?

Jordan Leopold's daughter predicts dad's trade in adorable letter to Minnesota Wild

The Columbus Blue Jackets have dealt veteran defenseman Jordan Leopold to the Minnesota Wild for defenseman Justin Falk and a fifth-round pick in the 2015 draft.

Not so much big news if it wasn't for the fact that Leopold's 11-year-old daughter Jordyn predicted the trade — if not brokered the deal.

This letter is courtesy of KFAN's Paul Allen, who received Jordyn's handwritten proposal and read it on the air Monday before the 3 p.m. trade deadline.

Jordan Leopold's 11-year-old daughter Jordyn wrote this letter before the trade, according to @KFAN1003. pic.twitter.com/8RpWT9LpgL
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) March 2, 2015

Leopold is always a good bet to be moved around — since has played 13 years in the NHL for Calgary, Colorado, Florida, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, St. Louis, Columbus and now Minnesota but, possibly thanks to his little girl's letter, the 34-year-old player, an unrestricted free agent this summer, is returning to his home state.

I don't know that Jordyn has in mind for her future but a general manager's job or writing career wouldn't be hard to imagine.

Rangers' John Moore suspended 5 games for vicious hit (VIDEO)

The NHL suspended New York Rangers defenseman John Moore five games without pay for his nasty and illegal check Monday on Minnesota Wild forward Erik Haula.

Moore was assessed a match penalty for his cheap shot during the game, when he used his elbow to drill Haula in the head.

It is Moore's second illegal hit to an opponent's head in the span of 12 games, which makes this five-game ban seem a little lax — even if he is considered a repeat offender. Moore earned a two-game suspension during last season's playoffs for an illegal shot to the head. 

This time he will forfeit $51,859.75 in salary, which will go to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

#rangers John Moore hearing will be at 1pm tomorrow. Moore opted to do it on the phone even if the league requested an in-person hearing.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) October 28, 2014

Sounds like Moore is still being a jerk even off the ice.

Wild fans distract Semyon Varlamov with mugshot, prison jumpsuit photos

Semyon Varlamov was nominated for the Vezina Trophy on Monday morning in what had to be the shining moment so far this 2013-14 season.

But at a bleak point back in October, the Colorado Avalanche goaltender was arrested on domestic violence charges. 

Those charges were later dropped, but certainly not forgotten — at least by Minnesota Wild fans. And with the Avalanche in Minnesota for Game 6, the fans near the glass behind Varlamov decide to shake up the netminder with photos of his mugshot and the photo from his court appearance after spending the night in jail.

If Varlamov was rattled by the ploy, he didn't really show it — but it might have done enough.

The Wild tacked on two empty-net goals for a 5-2 victory that sent the first-round playoff series to a decisive Game 7.

Jon Merrill's NHL debut cut short by shot to face (VIDEO)

It would be understandable if New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer wanted to blow off some steam after back-to-back losses this weekend, but that doesn't mean he'll blame Minnesota's Torrey Mitchell for tripping rookie Jon Merrill on Sunday:

“It looked accidental to me,” DeBoer told nj.com after the bloodied Devils defenseman had to be helped from the ice during a 4-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

Merrill’s NHL debut was cut short less than five minutes into the game when he was crashed into the boards and suffered facial lacerations that sidelined him for the rest of the night

The 21-year-old Merrill needed stitches and underwent baseline (concussion) testing, but wasn’t available for questions following the contest.

NHL player Clayton Stoner draws criticism for killing grizzly bear

An NHL player has sparked outrage after photos surfaced on social media showing him holding the remains of a decapitated grizzly bear and brandishing its head and severed paws for a photograph.

Clayton Stoner, a defenseman for the Minnesota Wild ice hockey team, posted the photograph of himself brandishing the gnarly trophy after a hunting trip last May in an area known as Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia.

CTV News reports the 28-year-old Stoner had permits allowing him to hunt in the area where the bear was killed. After the pictures of him "holding its severed head and paws" were made public, the B.C. native released a statement saying hunting is a tradition for him and he has no plans to quit:

"I grew up hunting and fishing in British Columbia and continue to enjoy spending time with my family outdoors. I applied for and received a grizzly bear hunting license through a British Columbia limited entry lottery last winter and shot a grizzly bear with my license while hunting with my father, uncle and a friend in May. I love to hunt and fish and will continue to do so with my family and friends in British Columbia."

But local environmentalists and animal rights proponents lashed out at his strong stance on hunting, branding his actions "disgusting and barbaric."

It's sort of ironic since the team's logo features a "nature bear" head made to look like the wilderness it roams.

Stoner and his friends shot the bear, cut off its head and paws before skinning it and leaving its carcass for scavengers in the forest.

But despite fierce criticism from wildlife supporters, Stoner remained unrepentant to their outcries.

"I don't think there's any place for this disgusting, barbaric, so-called sport of trophy-hunting in British Columbia,"said Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.

William Housty of the Heiltsuk First Nations urged authorities to ban the bloodsport, saying, "It's up to Mr Stoner how he wants to proceed from here but we'd encourage him and all other hunters to leave their guns at home."

The incident has reignited passions over an issue that has long divided British Columbia. The provincial government hands out 300 licences each year. Hunting generates more than $300-million in annual revenue for the state.

Whether you agree with game hunting or not, Stoner — who finished last season with 10 assists in 48 games — went through all the right channels necessary to gain the proper permits to hunt legally.  

Perry shows remorse for Zucker hit: 'It's unfortunate'

Corey Perry's blindsided hit to Jason Zucker cost him a game misconduct and five-minute major for interference Tuesday night.

The late hit to Zucker's head knocked the 21-year-old Minnesota Wild forward's head into the boards and out of the game.

Afterwards, Perry showed some remorse for the vicious hit.

“I was committed to the hit. … I tried to let up,” Perry said. “It’s hard. It happens so fast. It’s unfortunate.”

The Anaheim Ducks player passed on this message to to Zucker that he's not the headhunter the replays will make him out to be.

“No. I don’t go out there looking to hurt guys,” Perry said. “That’s not the way I am. That’s not me as a person.”

Perry was suspended four games after elbowing Claude Giroux in 2009. Not exactly a gangster on skates.

Let's see what what the NHL has to say about it.