NHL Roundup : Coaches Wrestle, Teams Tie

A bench-clearing brawl, which included a five-minute wrestling match between coaches Nick Polano of Detroit and Glen Sonmor of Minnesota, broke out at the end of the first period of a 5-5 tie between the Red Wings and North Stars Thursday night at Detroit.

Minnesota’s Willi Plett and Detroit’s Greg Smith, who had tangled earlier in the first period, squared off again as the teams left the ice.

Both benches emptied and the brawl spilled into the Detroit bench, where Detroit’s Danny Gare and Minnesota’s Dino Ciccarelli exchanged several blows. Then injured Minnesota goalie Greg Stefan, who did not suit up for the game, jumped in to assist Gare and, according to Sonmor, sucker-punched Minnesota forward Tom McCarthy.

Sonmor then leaped off his own bench, but before he could reach Stefan he was grabbed by Polano and their wrestling match ensued.

“You get a guy in street clothes standing behind the bench grabbing and punching our players, and if you think I’m going to watch that, you’re crazy,” Sonmor said.

“Nick (Polano) was all right,” Sonmor said with a smile. “He was saying, Glen, we’re too old for this.”

McCarthy suffered a concussion and facial cuts and was taken to a Detroit hospital for observation.

Referee Ron Wicks handed out a total of 94 minutes of penalties, including six game misconducts, after the brawl. Sonmor and Stefan were ejected.

Detroit led, 3-1, when the brawl started.

Philadelphia 6, Quebec 3--Tim Kerr scored two goals and Brian Propp had a goal and three assists as the Flyers won at Philadelphia.

St. Louis 5, Toronto 3--Jorgen Pettersson scored on successive slapshots in the second period and added a third goal on a wrist shot four minutes later to lead the Blues at St. Louis. It was Pettersson’s sixth career hat trick.

Hartford 4, New Jersey 0--Goalie Steve Weeks stopped 19 shots to record the shutout and Greg Malone and Kevin Dineen each scored a goal and added an assist at East Rutherford, N.J., as the Whalers ended an eight-game winless streak.

Chicago 5, Pittsburgh 4--Rookie Dan Frawley scored two goals and Troy Murray put in the game-winner with only 14 seconds left as the Black Hawks won at Chicago. The win was the fourth in a row for the Hawks under their interim coach, General Manager Bob Pulford, and enabled them to remain seven points behind Norris Division-leading St. Louis.

Washington 4, Calgary 3--Bobby Carpenter scored two third-period goals to give the Capitals a come-from-behind victory at Calgary.