Rick Rypien Attacks Fan, Deserves 20-Game Suspension

by Christopher Botta

Filed under: Canucks, Wild, NHL Discipline

UPDATE: Rypien has been suspended indefinitely, pending a hearing with the league.

Rick Rypien (above left) is about to learn that a professional athlete never, ever touches a fan. The Vancouver Canucks forward deserves to be suspended for at least 20 games.

Leaving the ice after a second period altercation with Brad Staubitz in Minnesota on Tuesday, Rypien attacked a fan in a Wild jersey on his way to the locker room. As he headed down the runway, which begins behind the visiting team's bench at the Excel Energy Center in Minnesota, Rypien saw the young fan applauding his exit and grabbed him by the jersey. Only when another man --presumably the young fan's brother or friend -- stepped in, did Rypien back off.

 

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