With the 2023-2024 season underway, the Lakers have had a rough start to their year with a current 0-4 record. The team was eager to change that standing this weekend in their game against Glenbrook North. However, with a chippy game and missed calls from the referees, their plans had fallen through. Frustrations started to build between both benches, with the physicality drastically increasing as the game continued and resulted in the referees struggling to control the game.
Ultimately, the emotions reached a high, and tension finally snapped late in the third period when a fight broke out between Zion-Benton senior forward Sebastian Phillips and a Glenbrook North player. Fists quickly began flying between both players, resulting in multiple players from both teams rushing into the fight. The brawl led to suspensions on both sides and a sour taste in the mouths of the league and parents who watched the fight go down.
Antioch senior defenseman Alex Frank was on the bench when the fight broke out, where he recalled seeing a Glenbrook North player initially starting the fight.
“From what I saw, it was a kid on Glenbrook North that initially punched Sebastian,” Frank said. ”That resulted in him obviously getting more frustrated and caused him to fight back.”
When it comes to increased tensions on the ice, fights can easily ensue. For some players, despite missing the initiation of the fight, they nonetheless join the fight to defend their teammates. Grayslake North senior Riley Parpan did just that as he would end up skating into the fight to defend his team, being the third man in for the Lakers.
“I didn’t really see it start, but all I saw was my guy on the ground. So, I decided to get in there,” Parpan said.
Unfortunately, both Parpan and Phillips were handed suspensions for the fight. Phillips has been suspended for five games, while Parpan’s suspension lasts only one.
Phillips believes that the score of the game played a major role in the fight taking place. With the Lakers down by five at the end of the third period, it led to high-strung emotions and players lashing out.
”It definitely did; I don’t want to say that was 100% of the reason why, but definitely a big factor,” Phillips said.
Phillips also touched on how the referees played a role in the events that took place. He explains how the referees could have done more to prevent the fight from happening in the first place by making more accurate calls.
’’The game was really chippy, throughout the whole entire game, and they [the referees] kind of just built it up and up till, you know, a fight broke out,” Phillips said.
Similarly, Frank believed that the referees should have been able to keep the game under control, which would have lessened the likelihood of increased frustrations on the ice.
”I think that from their bad calls early on earlier on in the game that it led to us or the game kind of getting out of control and led to that fight,” Frank said.
However, when it comes to physicality on the ice, there are differences in how it can play out based on what caused it in the first place. When a player is the direct target of a fist rather than the victim of a cheap shot, the actions can differ. Phillips states there is a big difference between fighting on the ice and simply standing up for your teammate.
“I’d say it’s different because the guy came at me personally. Shoved me personally, compared to seeing my teammate getting hit with a cheap shot and coming in for him,” Phillips said.
Unfortunately, the action did not end when the final buzzer was heard. According to the players, there was an unruly parent near their locker rooms who was talking back to some of the Lakers players and their coach. Phillips was one of the first players in the locker room after the game but did not fully recall what the parent had said.
”I know he said something along the lines of ‘get your kids under control’ or just talking to us in general. And then one of our coaches stuck up for us,” Phillips said.
The Lakers have not had the start they had hoped to achieve. However, it is still very early in the season. The Lakers have already gotten their toughest opponents out of the way and are looking to put the rough start behind them. With Phillips’s suspension being completed, the whole team will be ready to take the ice. The Lakers are eagerly hoping to break their losing streak when they take on their rivals, the Warren Blue Devils, in their next home game on Oct. 15.
