Picture it: Bancorp South Arena in Tupelo, Mississippi. The Tigers led the Ice Dawgs six goals to two. This, in front of 3,000 fans … of Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Two minutes remained in the third period. Andrew “Sloth” Rulewicz (D-MSU) skated toward LSU’s zone. The puck, at that point, was secondary…

Rulewicz was big and looked like … umm … “He looks like a big, grotesque demon!” said Patrick Swartz (F-MSU). “But he’s known for providing some humor for the team,” Swartz added.

Rulewicz was about to take the entertainment to new levels…

“Mississippi State attempted an ice-wide fight,” said Brandon Hicks (F-LSU). Hicks had been out in front of LSU’s net when Rulewicz pulled his own and Hicks’ helmets off. This looked especially bad to LSU’s goaltender Adam McCreary.

“I knew our next game was Georgia and that we couldn’t afford to lose a player,” said McCreary. A fight is a one-game suspension with black eyes and dental work. “So I got a little defensive and skated between Brandon and the Mississippi State player who attacked him.”

That Mississippi State player was Rulewicz. Remember him?

PWEET! The whistle sounded, and Rulewicz was called for fighting at 2:11 left in the game. But so was McCreary!

“I was ejected and designated as a ‘third man in,’” McCreary said. This is ironic because the penalty sheet never mentioned a second fighter.

McCreary ultimately had to appeal to the American Collegiate Hockey Association over his suspension. “I’m still waiting on their ruling,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gerry Bloom was seated in the stands. He’d made the 300-mile drive to watch his son Patrick play defense for LSU. But at that point, he saw another player being attacked.

“Kaleb Futch (F-LSU) had skated over to the bench and propped his helmet up on his head – the screen wasn’t over his face,” said Bloom. “And then one of Mississippi State’s players dropped his gloves and punched Kaleb from the blind side!”

Futch thought this was dumb. “Dude,” he said to the face puncher, “you’re still losing!”

The 3,000 fans were going crazy. Every shove accelerated them a little more. But Gerry Bloom was minding his own business in the stands.

“There were only about 20 LSU fans in Tupelo that night, so I was really surprised at the intense dislike Mississippi State fans had for LSU,” said Bloom.

As he watched to see if the game would turn back into hockey, he heard a voice. “You know we’d cheer against LSU if it were a chess game!” a Mississippi State fan told Bloom.

“Well, you wouldn’t beat LSU at chess, either,” said Bloom. (Very little punching in chess these days.)

Bloom’s neighbors couldn’t get enough. “They found out I was #22’s dad, so they rang a cowbell over my head and yelled, ‘Whip 22’s butt!’” Bloom thought this was hilarious until a cow followed him home…

The ice was still a “ring.” LSU defenseman Kaleb Price felt a shove and smelled Dawg breath.

“Do you want to go?” asked the Dawg.

Immediately, Price’s hands flew up. “No, man, I have a game in two weeks!” said Price.

So, the Dawg grabbed Price’s head and was called for it. (Price thought this was funny.)

From the bench, team secretary/defenseman/sub goaltender/pastry chef Rusty Ware heard chants from the stands: “We hate YOU, LSU!” What poets, Ware thought. He pointed at the scoreboard to remind the crowd how little their attitudes mattered.

They responded with a threat: “You still have to leave…”

“What are they going to do to us,” thought Ware. “Lower our mean IQ?”

In the end, Mississippi State head coach Mike Mayhew was unhappy. He threw gloves and sticks onto the ice.

McCreary had to leave the game as if he were carrying international secrets. “Security escorted me to the locker room,” he said. “I had to leave out of the back door.”

LSU won that hockey game with a final score of seven to two, but the penalty sheet looks like the “2:11 attacks.” It reads: Lamerson – Instigation; Lamerson – Fighting; Barclay – Fighting; Rulewicz – Fighting; and McCreary – 3rd man in. And the “DQs” don’t mean the players got free ice cream.

But have you noticed the one thing that all of these penalties have in common? THERE NEVER WAS A FIGHT. No one punched back. All players served their penalties. The crowd was going nuts … over nothing.

Patrick Swartz was the one with enough access to the local fans and team to put it all together. “I got really positive feedback from the crowd,” he said. “Obviously, we didn’t win, and they wanted us to use a fight as an excuse,” said Swartz.

“But we still gave them a reason to come back and watch another MSU/LSU hockey game. Our players were really happy to have played in front of 3,000 people!” Could it be that Mississippi State knew how to give their fans just enough at a time when they weren’t having their best game?

Brandon Hicks agreed. “Basically, Mississippi State’s crowd was really excited. They didn’t win the game, but they thought they won the fight … there just wasn’t one.”

So … LSU left happy. Mississippi State left happy. In hockey, this is a first…