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Monday, Feb. 27, 2017: Meltdown for ex-West Seneca East hockey player
Leading off today: A former West Seneca East football and hockey player became in Internet sensation Sunday for all the wrong reasons, having been captured on video attacking a referee during a college hockey championship game.
Eric Community College freshman defenseman Brandon Day, 19, is facing charges after he left the penalty box to attack the on-ice official, ending the Kats' 7-4 loss to Dakota College of Bottineau in the National Junior College Athletic Association championship game at the SUNY Broome Ice Center.
Day, who went after the referee with 39 seconds left in the contest, was taken into police custody and charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, and two violations: second-degree harassment and disorderly conduct, SUNY Broome Community College Public Safety Chief Joe O'Connor said. He is due in Dickinson Town Court on March 21, The Buffalo News reported.
Day charged out of the penalty box and onto the ice to level the referee, who had just broken up a fight. Trainers immediately went onto the ice to attend to the unidentified referee, reported by the Press & Sun-Bulletin to be a 62- year-old Binghamton resident.
Other officials jumped in and subdued Day, who was immediately sent to the team's locker room. While he was detained, Day also allegedly damaged the locker room, the Binghamton paper reported.
School officials apologized in a written statement issued Monday. Athletic Director Peter Jerebko said the athletic department "deeply regrets" what happened and called Day's actions "completely unacceptable, and it will not be tolerated within our athletic program."
Video of the incident was uploaded to YouTube and was used in stories on a variety of sports and news websites within hours of the game's end.
Opinion: It doesn't matter much what happens as this case winds its way through the legal system this spring. Regardless of what a court decides or a plea bargain arranges, organized hockey needs to present a united front in reaction to what happened Sunday in Binghamton.
There should be unanimous agreement amongst officials of collegiate, amateur and pro hockey organizations that Brandon Day is banned for life from participating. Nothing -- and I mean nothing -- justifies what we witnessed in that video.
Allowing his further participation at any level other would send a horrible, horrible message to young athletes at put officials at further risk.
High school hockey: The state's top-ranked teams skated to Section 1 championships on Sunday.
Pelham wrapped up a fourth consecutive Division II title with a 6-1 win over John Jay Cross River. Thomas Mazarro and Calvin Peters scored in a span of 43 seconds late i the first period for a 3-0 lead.
Defending state champion Mamaroneck rolled to a 4-0 win over Suffern in the Division I championship game as Tigers goalie Tommy Spero tied the presumed NYSPHSAA record with his 19th career shutout.
Section 3 nail-biters: Danielle Rauch made a free throw with :03 left to give top seed Bishop Ludden a 51-50 victory over South Jefferson in a Section 3 Class B girls basketball semifinal at SRC Arena.
"After I missed the first one (free throw) everyone was like I knew you had gold, I knew you had gold," Rauch told Syracuse.com after finishing with 23 points. "I was nervous and I think I was too jittery at first. Then it was like 50-50 but I have to knock this in, there is still three seconds left in the game."
Rauch also became the all-time leading scorer in school history by passing Carm Petrera, who racked up 1,434 points from 1991 to 1996.
Ludden's opponent in the final will be Bishop Grimes, whose Abby Wilkinson hit five of six free throws in the final 42.3 seconds to help defeat Westhill 47-44.
Wilkinson scored 14 points and Azariah Wade had 22 to help Grimes come back from a seven-point halftime deficit.
