Hockey Tough: AHL Announcer Gets Attacked On Air By Some Random Fan, Continues Calling The Game Like The Ultimate Professional
The Abbotsford Canucks just advanced to the Western Conference Finals of the Calder Cup Playoffs in the AHL. They barely had to sweat in game 5 to close out the series after a 5-0 win over the Colorado Eagles. But if one man in that arena had to sweat a little for the win, it was play-by-play announcer Brandon Astle.
Just a good ol' boy from Port Coquitlam, BC. It probably wasn't the first time he's ever had a chair thrown at him, and it probably won't be the last time either.
Now believe it or not, I've never made it out to Abbotsford Centre. I don't really know what the set up is like for the broadcasting booth. I don't know if there's an elevator to get up there which can only be accessed with a certain pass, or if it's just a total free-for-all. I don't know how that fan managed to get up close enough to the broadcasting booth to launch a chair at Brandon Astle. But the "how" in this situation pales in comparison to the "why".
Why, or what, on Earth drove this fan to the point of marching his way up to the broadcast booth to try to attack this fella? The game is in Abbotsford, and I can't imagine there are too many fans from Colorado traveling to this game. It's over 1000 miles away. Did this have anything to do with hockey? Does he hate the way Brandon Astle calls the game? Is he an aspiring broadcaster who is just looking to take out his competition? Did Brandon Astle crush his old lady?
The "how" is pretty simple. It's an AHL game, so there probably aren't a ton of security measures in place to prevent something like this from happening. But there so many potential answers to why this happened, and now I need to know. Someone has to have the story here. It can't just be a drunk dude doing drunk things.