Domi incident draws Penguins’ interest

Tie Domi's penalty-box skirmish with a Philadelphia Flyers fan was a popular subject Friday in the Penguins' dressing room.

Many players said they would have acted just as Domi did after a 35-year-old fan named Chris Falcone, who was yelling at Domi, fell into the penalty box Thursday at the First Union Center.

The two took swings at each other before Domi, a Toronto Maple Leafs forward, pulled Falcone's sweatshirt over his head.

'I would have grabbed him and pummeled him,' defenseman Bob Boughner said. 'That's our domain; that's our area. You never know nowadays. You see tennis players getting stabbed on the court. You see all kinds of weird things happen. You never know how crazy a fan can be. If he's crazy enough to jump into the penalty box, he's crazy enough to do something worse.'

Falcone, a concrete worker, didn't exactly jump into the penalty box, but he didn't exactly apologize once he got there, either. He threw a punch at linesman Kevin Collins before Domi took matters into his own hands.

The incident started with fans yelling at Domi, who sprayed water at them. The NHL yesterday fined Domi $1,000 for spraying the water. Falcone took a swing at Domi over a glass panel that separated the two.

The panel buckled, and Falcone fell in.

'I bet that kid didn't really want that glass to fall, I'll tell you that much,' said Penguins winger Kevin Stevens, who was watching the game on television.

Added defenseman Marc Bergevin: 'That guy's got no business being in the penalty box. He's a hero and next thing you know he's in the box, and now, it's fair and square.'

Stevens said that Domi's mistake was responding to the fans' taunts.

'Obviously, (Domi) shouldn't have sprayed the water, but the kid falls in the box on him, and he's got every right to protect himself,' said Stevens, who played for the Flyers. 'In Philly, the glass is short, and they like it when the people get on you. I'd have done the same thing - try to protect yourself as much as you can, then once you get it under control, you have to back off, and that's what he did.'

Nobody recalled being the main character in an incident quite so memorable, but Boughner was involved in one just as comical seven years ago when he played for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the American Hockey League.

Boughner tried in vain to restrain coach Don Jackson from climbing the glass and attacking the Atlanta Knights' mascot, Sir Slapshot. Jackson, who would later become a Penguins assistant coach, became enraged when Sir Slapshot pounded on the glass behind him.

'That was the biggest snap I've ever seen,' Boughner said.

Jackson recently had been involved in a serious car accident, and Boughner recalls that both of his legs were in braces. Boughner realized as much when he was pulling on Jackson's legs, trying to bring him down.

'That's how crazy he got: He was climbing the glass, and his legs were broken,' Boughner said.

Defenseman Bobby Dollas once got pelted with an egg in junior hockey, and Bergevin got hit by a flying fish in the handshake line after winning a 1996 playoff series at Winnipeg. He played for the Detroit Red Wings at the time.

'We were all shaking hands, and the guy took a salmon and hit me with a salmon,' Bergevin said. 'He didn't mean to hit me; he was just throwing it on the ice. I kind of laughed. It was funny, a salmon that just hit me sitting on the ice. I got hit by a fish.'

Humor aside, the players are dead serious when it comes to fans invading their territory.

'I've never understood coming to a game and getting involved to that point,' Boughner said. 'It's just entertainment, I think.'