Canadiens: Fowler Hit Mid-Game By An Object Thrown By A Fan

If you watched Saturday night’s game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs and paid attention, you might have noticed something weird in the first period. After a stoppage in play, it looked like one of the referees was offering Jacob Fowler a green apple, but that wasn’t the case.

After the game, the Canadiens’ netminder was  asked what that moment was about, and it turned out to be something else altogether. During play, a fan threw an apple at the Habs’ goaltender. According to Marco D'Amico, the interaction caught on camera was Fowler joking with the ref about whether he would have allowed a goal scored when the goalie was hit by the apple.

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While the Montreal goaltender thought it was funny in the post-game scrum, he didn’t have the same opinion during the game, and that’s understandable. The question he asked the ref was valid: what would have happened if a goal had been scored when he was hit by the apple? If the goal was allowed to stand, Canadiens fans would have screamed bloody murder; if it was taken away, Leafs fans would have done the same. It would have been enough to launch a full-blown scandal; I can already see the headlines: Habs vs. Leafs game rocked by Applegate.

Referees should not be put in a position to make that call, and the incident will be reported to the League. Don’t be surprised if security checks are heightened when you attend a game. One fan’s foolish decision could affect the integrity of the game, and that’s something that must be taken seriously. Bags are searched when you enter an arena for a reason. If worst comes to worst, the NHL could ask fans to bring only what fits through a small, see-through plastic bag, as the NFL has done in the past. Furthermore, if that fan was identified, they should be banned from attending the game. It’s one thing to throw an octopus on the ice in Detroit during a stoppage of play (those were the good old days), but it’s quite another to try and disrupt the game.

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