The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds travelled to London to play the Knights at the John Labatt Centre on November 11. The final score of the game was 4-3 for the Greyhounds, but that wasn't what people were talking about the next day.

At the final buzzer, an altercation between Nick Cousins of Sault Ste. Marie and London Knights forward Ryan Rupert led to a bench clearing brawl between the 'Hounds and Knights.

Here's what happened:
As time was winding down with the Knights trailing the Greyhounds, the Knights turned the puck over in the offensive zone. The puck landed on Nick Cousins' stick, and he took a stride with the puck and shot it towards the Knights' empty net. As the puck was travelling towards the net, time expired and the game was officially over. The Greyhounds started to celebrate and headed on the ice to congratulate their goaltender, Jack Campbell, as the London bench started to head to their dressing room. Mere seconds after Cousins shot the puck down the ice, Rupert began to head towards the London bench. Cousins put his hands to the air and started skating towards Rupert and began to celebrate, and Cousins taunted Rupert by bumping him while celebrating. Rupert took exception to that and gave him a twohanded slash to the midsection. Cousins fell to the ice in visible pain, then Rupert dropped his gloves and jumped the defenceless Cousins and started to throw punches.

Things got very ugly after that; roughly four Sault Ste. Marie players jumped Rupert as members from the Knights came to the help their teammate from the mosh pit of Greyhounds. Multiple scrums broke out with helmets, gloves and sticks scattered around of the rink. Three fights broke out during the bench clearing: Scott Harrington vs. Alex Morgan, Jared Knight vs. Colin Miller and Matt Rupert vs. Joe Rogalski.

Referees and linesmen eventually restored order and escorted players from both teams off the ice one at a time.

Suspensions:
Miller, Rogalski and Morgan of Sue Ste. Marie have each received two-game suspensions as of November 12. All players received game misconducts for fighting other than during the period of the game. London Knights Knight, Matt Rupert and Harrington received the same suspension under the same rule.

Cousins received a two-game suspension for game misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct at 20:00 in the third period. According to the OHL Rule Book, "In general, participants displaying this type of behaviour are assessed a minor penalty, then a misconduct penalty and then a game misconduct penalty if they persist."

Rupert of the Knights was suspended indefinitely for a game misconduct for slashing at 20:00 in the third period. The Rule Book states that "a major penalty, at the discretion of the Referee based on the severity of the contact, shall be imposed on a player who slashes an opponent. When injury occurs, a major penalty must be assessed under this rule (see 61.5)." Rule 61.5 states that "whenever a major penalty is assessed for slashing, a game misconduct penalty must also be imposed."

Being suspended indefinitely means that a player will be suspended from league play until the league reviews the incident and finds an appropriate suspension for the player.

You can expect a wake-up call for Ryan Rupert from the league. This will be his first suspension and the league will keep that in mind when figuring out the suspension. Another thing to consider is the fact that Cousins, the recipient of the slash from Rupert, was smiling and looked to be laughing at something as he was skating off the ice, but either way, Rupert's actions are going to call for discipline from the league. It doesn't help Rupert's case when the video of his actions are being watched by people across the nation; anyone who tuned in to any network sports channel saw the slash and the brawl. Now everyone is waiting to see how the OHL is going to handle this incident. The OHL has a history of cracking down hard on players who give the league a black-eye. Ryan Rupert was suspended for five games.