Game announcer attacked mid-game by fan, who throws a chair at him!

A bizarre and disturbing scene unfolded during an Abbotsford Canucks game when the team’s play-by-play announcer was attacked live, mid-broadcast, by one angry fan during the second round of the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs.

The game was being streamed on AHL TV, and you can clearly hear announcer Brandon Astle completely losing his cool on air — understandably so, after being interrupted with a loud banging noise in the background. It is believed that he was attacked by a fan who stole the broadcaster’s chair and attempted to throw it at him, prompting the announcer to call for security. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years watching hockey.

Thankfully, it has been reported that the situation ended without serious injury. Based on what we could hear from the booth, the broadcaster wasn’t hurt — just (rightfully) shaken.

“Got some yahoo chirping at me from behind. Get out of here! What was he doing? Security! Try that again,” Astle said.

“I’m fired up. He threw my chair at me, hit me right in the back of the leg. Like, what was he doing here? Unreal. Have another beer,” he added.

There’s no place for this kind of behavior in sports — or anywhere, really. Hopefully, the fan responsible for the ridiculous attack faces serious consequences for pulling such a dangerous stunt.

In the NHL, broadcasters are usually placed in secure areas, far from the crowd. But in the AHL, with smaller arenas and less space, things are a bit different. Maybe it’s time to review how broadcasters are protected in those environments to prevent something like this from happening again.

Astle provided this update after the altercation: