Bruins fans knock NHL official out cold.

Absolutely anything can happen during the course of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and on Friday night we were treated to an example of that when we were witness to an incident that I have never seen the likes of in the National Hockey League before.

During Game 3 of the first round matchup between the Boston Bruins and the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night we witnessed something of a freak accident when off ice official Joe Foley was knocked out cold by what appear to be members of the Boston Bruins fan base. The incident occurred following the Bruins' third goal of the game, scored by veteran forward David Pastrnak, with a little over 5 minutes left in the game's second period.

Following the aforementioned goal by Pastrnak, fans in the crowd began to celebrate by banging their hands on the glass around the playing surface. Although it is often discouraged in NHL arenas, it is a very common practice among NHL fans and I certainly don't think any of the fans engaging in the practice meant any harm. Unfortunately this time around the banging on the glass would cause it to break, and it just so happened that it broke right over the head of NHL official Joe Foley.

Foley, who was described repeatedly as a "timeout coordinator" on the Bruins broadcast, was sitting in the penalty box doing his job when he was caught completely unawares by the falling glass. The glass would fall right on top of the 70 year old Foley's head and caused him to immediately collapse to the floor, seemingly knocked out cold by the force of the blow.

This would lead to a significant delay in the game, nearly a full 7 minutes, as Foley was tended to by the training staff from both the Bruins and the Hurricanes. Unfortunately a stretcher would eventually have to be brought out to carry Foley out of the arena, and he was later transported to hospital for evaluation. Thankfully it sounds like Foley is currently doing ok.

Here is a look at the full incident from start to finish:

Here you can see the exact moment the glass falls on Foley's head: