Earlier today, the OHL announced suspensions for members of the Erie Otters and Peterborough Petes following Sunday's brawl.
Peterborough Head Coach Rob Wilson and Erie bench boss Kriss Mallette both received five-game suspensions while Erie Assistant Coach Ken Peroff was handed a two-game suspension.
The league also handed out fines to both clubs. The Otters will have to pay a $7,500 fine while Peterborough will owe a slightly lower sum of $5,000.
With the organizations, the league turned their attention to individual players.
Otters' forward Alex Messier received the largest suspension assessed by the league for this event at nine games. The 2005-born forward received a game misconduct, aggressor and a game misconduct for continuing an altercation resulting in a seven-game suspension. He also received an automatic two-game suspension for exceeding the regular season fighting major threshold.
Peterborough's Grayden Strohack was assessed a suspension of four games. Two of those games were the result of penalties including a game misconduct continuing an altercation. The 2006-born forward automatically received an additional two games for being the third man into a fight.
The incident started midway through the second period off of a faceoff in the Peterborough zone. Messier went after Petes' forward Francis Parish and a scrum erupted around the Peterborough net.
Just when it seemed that things were calming down, another altercation started between the two benches, this time involving the two Head Coaches.
As the tension mounted, Messier made his way into the space between the benches. He and Strohack got entangled and could clearly be seen taunting one another.
Though it seems unlikely Peterborough can make the playoffs, these suspensions don't help the situation. Being without Strohack and Rob Wilson will certainly hurt the team's success.
Erie is solidly in a playoff spot currently sitting fifth in the Western Conference. It's been a rocky season for the Otters due to a combination of injuries, the firing of former Head Coach Stan Butler and the death of Jim Waters.
The heavy suspensions reflect the league's desire to avoid these sorts of incidents in the future. While fights on the ice are one thing, those that migrate off the ice will always be deemed unacceptable.