Goalie fight! Fans go wild as minor league goalies trade blows in a massive brawl, with Fort Wayne’s Ryan Fanti winning
Fort Wayne Komets fans were treated to some late-game entertainment Friday night as goaltender Ryan Fanti emerged victorious in a brawl against Brad Barone of the Wheeling Nailers.
The violence ensued when Fort Wayne’s Matt Alvaro scored an empty net goal to give the Komets a 6-4 lead, as he took issue with the Nailers’ Ryan Da Silva knocking him to the ground while shooting.
Álvaro confronted and punched Da Silva after getting back to his feet, and the referees had to separate two other players as they wrestled on the ice.
From there, Fanti and Barone somehow crossed paths and agreed to fight each other, with the pair removing their gloves and Fanti quickly landing a punch to Barone’s face.
Fanti dominated the fight, managing to hit Barone at least six more times, before moving on top of his opponent on the ground.
Ryan Fanti battled Brad Barone late in the Komets’ win over the Nailers
Fanti dominated the fight as Barone could barely lay a hand on his opponent
Fanti eventually got on top of Barone before the referees finally intervened.
With the game over and one fight won, Fanti was embraced by his teammates and a rowdy crowd as he made his way to the bench.
Fanti’s team was clearly proud of him, as they tweeted photos/videos of the fight three times and retweeted two tweets with the same description.
‘GOALKEEPERS FIGHT AND @FANTI_29 LANDS ALL OF THEM’, the team’s Twitter account captioned a video of the fight.
The team’s play-by-play announcer was also excited about the fight, saying immediately afterward: ‘Ryan Fanti, what a number on Barone! He wanted it and he got it!
The Komets and Nailers play in the ECHL, a double A ‘AA’ league with 28 teams.
Fort Wayne’s win brought them to 28-27 on the season, while Wheeling fell to 23-34.