Taking Out The Trashers
It would seem that it is open season on officials in the UHL, as long as the check for your franchise fee clears first.

 
Dan HICKLING
MLNSportsZone.com
 

OPINION - The United Hockey League (UHL) has a huge load of trash to deal with. Unlike the rubbish heaps that one of its owners, James Galante, has built his fortune on, this one cannot be simply carted away. The owner of the first-year Danbury Trasher has been charged with assaulting an official, linesman Jim Harper, on Dec. 1 following a highly contentious game in Danbury between the Trashers and the Kalamazoo Wings.

Galante, who also owns the Automated Waste Disposal Company, has been arraigned in Danbury Superior Court on a misdemeanor charge. As is his right, he has entered a not guilty plea.

This incident came hot on the heels of the "Malice at the Palace" NBA fiasco.  Good timing, huh?

It was the capper to a wild, out of control night that resulted in one Trasher being carted off to the hospital, two players handed hefty suspensions, plus a highly curious five-game sit down for Harper.

The League’s first official press release on the incident, as seen on MLN-The Raw Feed™, makes no mention of Galante’s role, or any sanctions against him. The UHL waited until the 9th of December to release a finger-wagging at Galante that makes no mention of the police charge and blames Harper. (See release). As of the moment, the only action, against the Trashers owner by UHL President Richard Brosal is what he termed a "substantial fine".

Brosal said in a statement that he couldn't prove that Galante actually struck Harper.

Video cameras were running throughout the game, but who knows whether that scrum was captured on film.  The Danbury police obviously felt the incident was real enough to charge Galante with assault. Combine this with the fact that a UHL official was on the receiving end of the violence, the official is sanctioned, and Brosal’s slap on the wrist and explanation are even more curious.

Instant Replay

Matters were routine enough until the final 25.7 seconds of the middle period, when Trasher winger Brad Wingfield was slew-footed in front of the Kalamazoo goal by Josh Elzinga, and produced THE most gruesome sight ever witnessed by this reporter in 35 years of watching hockey.

Wingfield, down on all fours, was left writhing in pain, emitting screams of agony that echoed into every corner of the Danbury Ice Arena.

His leg was broken so badly that he is likely to be out for a full year.

So bad was the scene that referee Steve Marofsky eventually sent the teams to

Continued....