Fates of Ridley hockey players in hands of jury
NORRISTOWN >> The fates of three Ridley Raiders hockey players accused of assaulting players from Central Bucks West during a playoff game at a Hatfield ice rink are in the hands of a Montgomery County jury.
Jurors deliberated more than four hours on Thursday without reaching a verdict at the joint trial for Brock Anderson, Jake Tyler Cross and Ryan Anthony Gricco.
Jurors told Judge Richard P. Haaz at 5:15 p.m. that they wanted to go home and return Friday to continue their deliberations. The judge instructed jurors to return at 9 a.m. Friday.
Anderson, 19, of the 500 block of Ridley Circle, Morton; Cross, 20, of the 900 block of Greenhouse Lane, Secane; and Gricco, 19, of the 1500 block of Blackrock Road, Swarthmore, each face charges of simple assault, conspiracy to commit simple assault and harassment in connection with the 10:19 p.m. March 9, 2017, on-ice incident at Hatfield Ice on County Line Road in Hatfield during the Eastern Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey Association Regional High School “Flyers Cup” Class 2A quarterfinal game between Ridley and CB West.
Anderson, Cross and Gricco did not testify during the trial.
Defense lawyers relied on 11 character witnesses who testified the defendants had good reputations for being “peaceful, nonviolent, lawabiding” men. Those character witnesses included Ridley Township Police Chief Scott Willoughby and Lieutenant William Wright Jr. of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division.
During his closing argument to jurors on Thursday, Assistant District Attorney John N. Gradel argued Anderson, Cross and Gricco were part of a coordinated on-ice assault and conspired to attack the CB West players late in the third period, with about seven minutes left to play, when Ridley was losing 7-1 and facing elimination from the playoff tournament.
During the trial, one CB West player testified that before one faceoff he heard a Ridley player say, “We’re coming.” Another player testified that with about 11 minutes remaining in the game Anderson told him, “you have four minutes left.” Prosecutors alleged the Ridley players began the assaults with 7 minutes and 12 seconds left to play.
“With 7 minutes and 12 seconds left in this game, it’s no longer a hockey game,” Gradel argued to jurors. “This had nothing to do with hockey. The defendants basically jumped the CB West players.”
Authorities alleged Cross, during a stoppage of play, said something to each of his teammates and at the drop of the puck, the Ridley players immediately and simultaneously attacked the CB West players, punching them in the head and face, even when CB West players were forced down on the ice.
One CB West player suffered a concussion. Jurors also viewed photographs of the broken nose, broken orbital and facial lacerations sustained by another CB West player during what prosecutors alleged was an assault by Gricco.
“He hit him again and again and again,” Gradel argued, referring to Gricco’s alleged conduct.
Several of the CB West players testified they didn’t fight back because they feared they would be suspended from their next game, the semi-final game of the tournament.
Prosecutors said for CB West, at the time the top seed in the tournament, the injuries inflicted by Ridley players prevented two CB West players from participating in their next game against William Tennent. CB West was eliminated from the 2017 “Flyers Cup” Championship during that next game.
Prosecution witnesses testified the Ridley players’ alleged actions were not acceptable youth hockey conduct.
Defense lawyers challenged some of the alleged victims’ claims they didn’t want to fight, suggesting
“With 7 minutes and 12 seconds left in this game, it’s no longer a hockey game. This had nothing to do with hockey. The defendants basically jumped the CB West players.” _
Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney John Gradel “A hockey fight is not a crime. This game is a culture. There are jokes about fights in hockey, that’s how pervasive it is.” _ Defense lawyer Lindsay McDonald
nothing prevented them from leaving the ice and going to their bench.
During the trial, defense lawyers suggested to the jury that fighting is a natural part of hockey and that the CB West players also were aggressive during the highly emotional elimination playoff game.
“A hockey fight is not a crime. This game is a culture. There are jokes about fights in hockey, that’s how pervasive it is,” defense lawyer Lindsay McDonald, who represents Cross, argued to the jury, claiming the Ridley players had no intent to injure their opponents. “It would be an injustice to hold these boys (criminally) responsible for a fight that occurred on the ice.”
Defense lawyers argued the game was “chippy, physical and emotional,” and involved a lot of “trash talk” and resulted in numerous penalties for both teams.
The defense lawyers stressed the Ridley players did not strike the CB West players with hockey sticks or kick them with skates nor tried to take masks off the players.
“This has everything to do with hockey. This altercation happened on the ice. It didn’t happen in the parking lot. It didn’t happen in the locker room. It’s 17 seconds,” defense lawyer Mark Phillip Much, who represents Anderson, argued to jurors, suggesting prosecutors were trying to criminalize a hockey fight. “They want them to be convicted criminals based on these 17 seconds of their lives.”
Defense lawyers also implied the conduct and injuries are reasonable, foreseeable hazards of participating in a lawful sporting event and therefore, the Ridley players should not be held criminally responsible.
“You watch 100 sporting events, you’re going to see fights happen. This is a hockey game,” defense lawyer Michael J. Malloy, who represents Gricco, argued to jurors.
Prosecutors argued the single elimination tournament’s design and zero tolerance policy on intimidation or fighting are significant in the case because late in the game and down 7-1, Ridley had no real chance of winning and advancing. Ridley’s season was all but over and for the seniors at Ridley it was their final game and an ejection and suspension from play for fighting would have no effect on them, prosecutors implied.