Braves Paying A Stiff Price For Brawl After Playoff Loss

The Spokane Braves will be with out their head coach and a key veteran again tonight when they resume their Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoff with Osoyoos, British Columbia.

Coach Gary Braun is serving the fourth game of a five-game suspension for his part in a brawl following the Feb. 23 playoff game with the Beaver Valley Knight Hawks.

Left wing Ben Holt, 20, was suspended for the season following the incident at Eagles Ice-A-Rena.

Police say at least 50 people were involved in an altercation after the game, won by Beaver Valley.

Sources say Holt was cited for misdemeanor assault after punching referee Brian Hilfiker of Spokane. Braves Jonathan Braun and Norm Lochten were initially suspended for three games, later reduced to one-game suspensions.

The coach of Beaver Valley was suspended for three games and the club’s assistant coach and trainer received a one-game suspension.

The manager of the Eagles facility, Tim Everson, said the teams exited the ice together - as a rule one team is held back while the other leaves for the dressing room - and a fight broke out off the ice.

Coaches and fans became involved and police were called, Everson said. No injuries were reported.

Security through the playoffs will include an off-duty Washington State Patrol trooper, Everson said.

The brawl will not affect the team’s lease, Everson added.

“It’s been 15 years since there’s been any kind of disturbance that required security to be in place,” Everson said. “They’ve been good customers.”

Steve Stevens, who heads the Inland Empire Hockey Officials Association, said Braun was “the one who threw the match on the fire.

“The whole thing started when the coach ran off the ice to try to get in a fight with the coach from Beaver Valley,” Stevens said. “About half the Beaver Valley team was off the ice when Gary Braun grabbed the coach from Beaver Valley. That got the teams rushing off the ice and got the crowd involved.”

Stevens said he called police.

“I thought the officiating went very well, given the circumstances,” he said. “As soon as Spokane saw they were definitely going to lose, nobody was there to play hockey. They were there to fight.”

Holt, who had been ejected earlier in the game, came out of the stands to punch the 34-year-old referee, Stevens said.

Braun was suspended for three games in November after receiving a gross misconduct for having words with an official in Rossland, KIJHL records show.

“He has a lot to offer as a coach, but his game management is not conducive to the atmosphere of what is a kids’ sport,” Stevens said.

Braun, praised for his expertise Monday by the team’s star center, Tyler Keller, said “I lost my marbles a little bit.

“The opposition coach sent out a player who I thought was there to deliberately injure (Spokane’s Patrick) Heinz,” Braun said. “I was going across the ice to talk to him.”

In the meantime, a melee started, Braun said.

“We, the players and I, have to take responsibility for what happened and move on,” Braun said. “It’s really unfortunate for Ben. We hate to lose him. He’s an all-star player.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo