BRAWL GAME
5 ex-players held for trial on assault charges tied to on-ice fight during game
This image taken from video shows on-ice brawl between Ridley High and Central Bucks West players last March that has resulted in charges being filed against five former Ridley players.
Five former Ridley High School students are facing trial for simple assault and related offenses in connection with an on-ice brawl that cut short a Flyers Cup AA quarterfinal game between Ridley and Central Bucks West back in March.
The five defendants — Nathan Dunning, Jake Tyler Cross, Thomas Joseph Plotts, all 19, Ryan Anthony Gricco and Brock Anderson, both 18 — appeared for preliminary hearings Tuesday before Magisterial District Judge Andrea Hudak Duffy in Montgomery County. Charges were held against Cross, Plotts, Gricco and Anderson following the 90-minute proceeding. Dunning waived his hearing.
A sixth alleged offender who was charged as a juvenile has not been identified.
The fight involving several members of both teams broke out with seven minutes to go in the March 9 game that Central Bucks was leading, 7-1. The game was ended, resulting in a Ridley forfeit. The melee, which extended to pushing and shoving in the stands, was captured on video.
The arresting officer, Richard F. Hoffner Jr. of the Hatfield Township Police Department, was the lone witness called to testify by Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney John Gradel, according to defense attorney Michael Malloy, who is representing Gricco. A portion of the video was also presented as evidence by Gradel.
“I think that video helps my client,” Malloy said last night.
Malloy said video shows individuals from both teams fighting. He noted that no one from the opposing team was charged.
“Surprise, surprise. It’s a hockey game. A fight broke out,” Malloy said. “If you watch a hockey game today, someone is gong to win a fight, someone is going to lose a fight.”
Footage shows an ejected player re-entering the ice surface to get into the fracas. The fight spilled over into the crowd, and Hatfield police were called, but no charges were initially filed. A report on the game in The Intelligencer indicated several officers went onto the ice, and two of them escorted a member of the Ridley coaching staff to his dressing room. After the teams left the ice, police were still on the scene interviewing witnesses, and an officer was present in the C.B. West dressing room.
Gradel, according to published reports, maintained that Ridley players were frustrated. Seniors, aware that it was their last game so they could not be suspended for fighting, took it out on the CB West players.
“When the puck was dropped none of the players from Ridley made a move for the puck, all they did was start throwing punches,” Gradel said, according to CBS Philly.
It was at 10:19 p.m. that police responded to Hatfield Ice on County Line Road for a report of a fight in progress. Police said two Central Bucks West High School players reported that they were injured during the altercation, and one player was transported by ambulance to Abington Memorial Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. One player reportedy suffered a broken nose and a broken bone around his eye.
The brawl capped a penaltymarred game between the teams, the final incident occurred at 8:42 of the third and involved 17 match penalties assessed to Ridley (including three to assistant coaches), plus seven major penalties and two minors. For its part, C.B. West was assessed four minors.
The final penalty count in the game was 271 minutes on 45 infractions for Ridley, compared to 44 minutes for C.B. West on 14 penalties.
Police from Souderton, Telford and Lansdale boroughs assisted at the scene, along with Montgomery Township.
According to online court documents, Dunning and Gricco surrendered on the charges and were preliminarily arraigned on Nov. 16; Plotts, Cross and Anderson surrendered and were preliminarily arraigned on Nov. 13. Bail for all five defendants was set at $10,000 unsecured by Duffy, the arraigning judge.
Malloy said his client was notified about the charges a day or two before his surrender. According to online records: Gricco is charged with two counts each of simple assault, conspiracy to simple assault and harassment.
Dunning is charged with three counts of simple assault and two counts of harassment.
Cross is charged with two counts of simple assault and harassment, as well as one count of conspiracy to simple assault.
Both Plotts and Anderson are charged with one count each of simple assault, conspiracy to simple assault and harassment.
Formal arraignments in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court are listed for Jan. 17, 2018.
Malloy said he expects to go to trial.
Ice hockey is a club sport, not directly sponsored by the schools.