This is going to make for one awkward Christmas dinner.
While seeing a good scrap at a men’s league game might not be all that out of the ordinary, this one had some history behind it.
The two combatants who dropped the gloves during a men’s league game in Saskatchewan just happened to be father and son.
Father Chris Ewen of the Langham Vikings and Tyler Driedger of the Perdue Pirates squared off during the third period of a “fan appreciation night” that will not soon be forgotten by those in attendance.
Ewen and Driedger didn’t appear to hold back, either. Both men looked to be throwing some bombs at each other. After a wild 10 seconds or so, Ewen takes Driedger to the ice and the refs quickly step in.
The video, originally shared on X by Saskatchewan senior hockey podcast Monday Nooner, was later re-posted by Spittin’ Chiclets and has been viewed more than 1.6 million times across both accounts as of Monday afternoon.
Fans on social media were quick to joke about the family affair.
“Family dinner is going to be REAL awkward this week…” one user on X commented.
“The Feats of Strength. A longstanding festivus tradition,” another user replied, referencing a Seinfeld episode.
A third user joked about a penalty-box conversation between the two fighters: “’We still on for Christmas dinner Wednesday?’ ‘You bet son.’ ‘Alright, yep good tilt Dad.’”
The game itself had gotten way out of hand before the pair decided to spar with the Pirates scoring a massive 18-4 victory.
While it sure didn’t seem like the combatants were holding anything back, Pirates assistant coach Mike Gray noted that the bout was partly pre-planned with the actual game completely out of hand after two periods.
“We knew it was coming,” Gray reportedly said. “It didn’t just happen. Chris and Tyler talked about having a little fun if the game was lopsided, and it was, so away they went.”
Along with the big win and the hearty bout, fans also were treated to discount pizza and wings at the arena – drawing in a big crowd.
“The whole town was there,” Gray said. “It was a big night because we had the fan appreciation night setup and word got out that this might happen, so kind of packed the arena and it was fun.”