The Canucks Embarrassing Reaction To Rick Rypien’s Fan Altercation

Mike Chen at From The Rink chimed in on the reaction of the other Canucks players, namely Manny Malhotra, to the Rick Rypien incident on Tuesday night.

You can see Manny Malhotra's got his back turned when the incident starts, then he turns around and winds up yelling at the fans. In fact, at 16 seconds of the video, you can see that pretty much all of the Canucks are facing the other way except Henrik Sedin. Sedin, by the way, glances up at the incident and walks away while the rest of the bench freaks out.

Once Rypien is escorted away, everyone should know better to let the arena staff handle it. Unless the guy jumps down into the runway or dumps a hot dog on the bench, that separation is there. Obviously, emotions ran high but really, it's the same old thing we've all heard since childhood -- sticks and stones etc. Except these are professional athletes that aren't supposed to let that stuff get to them.

That's why it's kind of embarrassing to see Kevin Bieksa whack his stick at the glass (and I don't think he's pointing out the guys to the usher, as the usher's already halfway there). At that point, pro athletes are supposed to let other professionals do their thing and take care of stuff in the stands. This applies to coaches and the equipment guys too, including the Canucks equipment guy in the red coat who started yelling back at the fans once Rypien left.

I'm sure a number of Canucks feel pretty dumb about how they reacted and lost their cool, and I'm sure Rypien realizes that he crossed a line that he never should have. At this point, the NHL will probably strike down pretty harshly. And you know much of the NHLPA will roll their eyes because they know this will lead to a "fan sensitivity" lecture and/or video.