Throwback: Mike Milbury and the Boston Bruins enter the crowd and attack the fans.

What a moment.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Throwback: Mike Milbury and the Boston Bruins enter the crowd and attack the fans.

It is crazy to think that it has already been a whopping 40 years since this infamous incident took place, but today does in fact mark the 40th anniversary. 

I am of course referring to the incident in which the Boston Bruins, and most notably former National Hockey League player turned NHL analyst Mike Milbury, charged into a hostile crowd to deliver a beatdown of legendary proportions. Now the Bruins have often been heavily criticized for their actions on this day, and rightfully so, but what many people forget is that this was actually provoked by the fans in attendance. A fan had actually cut Stan Jonathan's face with a rolled-up program and was even trying to take his stick from him when the Bruins finally had enough and decided to take matters into their owns hands. What happened next you can see in the video below, and has become the stuff of hockey legend. 

From the video's description:

On December 23, 1979, in what remains as one of the most memorable fan-athlete confrontations in sports, Boston Bruins defenseman Mike Milbury whacked a New York Rangers fan with the fan's own shoe during an altercation in which several Bruins players went over the glass and into the stands at Madison Square Garden. The incident resulted in three Boston players being suspended. Of the three Bruins who were suspended, Terry O'Reilly had engaged in a career-high 22 fights during the season, Peter McNab had had only four penalty minutes during the previous season, and Mike Milbury had never before whacked anyone with a shoe.

Of course the story has only become more hilarious over the years given the fact that the aforementioned Mike Milbury has now become notorious for an entirely different reason, his hot takes on the NBC Sports broadcast of National Hockey League games. Milbury and his shoe are still constantly brought up by fans who either wanna poke fun at the much maligned NHL analyst or simply want to have a good laugh about the whole thing. And for those of you wondering about the fan who started the whole thing? Well as it turns out he actually served a couple of months in jail for his actions on that day, probably not a good use of his time and money.

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