A minor-league hockey player has learned a big lesson about letting your guard down in the heat of battle.
Adirondack Thunder defenseman Darian Skeoch and Wheeling Nailers forward Matt Quercia squared off with one another during the third period of Saturday night’s ECHL game between the two teams. Skeoch and Quercia began trading jabs following a scrum in front of the net, and the fight initially looked pretty tame.
Quercia landed a series of left jabs to Skeoch’s face before two referees stepped in to try to separate the players. Quercia looked like he thought that was the end of the fight, but boy was he wrong.
Just as Quercia turned his head, Skeoch landed a right hook directly to his opponent’s face. Quercia was hit so hard that his helmet went flying into the air.
While we have certainly seen better hockey fights than that, Quercia is going to be haunted by clips of his helmet flying into the air for the rest of his life.
The Thunder won the game 7-4. Wheeling might be disappointed with the loss, but no one took a bigger “L” than Quercia.
