A decision to drop gloves brought about major changes to the Nelson Leafs.
The team was hosting a testy New Year’s Eve matinee against Beaver Valley Nitehawks when five Leafs instigated fights as the puck dropped in the second period.
The brawl at Leafs head coach Adam DiBella’s direction stunned fans and the league. Video of the fight went viral in Canada — the story was the Nelson Star’s most read of 2023 — and was followed by apologies, suspensions and a coaching change.
KIJHL commissioner Jeff Dubois suspended DiBella indefinitely for the season in what he said was the harshest penalty doled out by the league in a decade. The Leafs were also fined $5,000 and had five players suspended as many as eight games.
In handing out the penalties, Dubois said the league was also reacting to what he described as cultural issues with the team’s coaching staff in previous years. DiBella had been in his first season as head coach when the brawl occurred, and followed his father Mario in the role.
“What had been established was a pattern of behaviour that needs to come to an end in terms of members of the Nelson Leafs’ staff. I think the league has placed responsibility on the board of the hockey team to ensure that those types of incidents do come to an end.”
Three days later DiBella resigned and apologized for his role in the brawl.
“I am embarrassed of my actions that put the health and safety of 10 players at risk. As a coach I needed to be a leader and I led players into a situation that could have ended in disaster.”
Leafs president Corey Viala meanwhile apologized to fans and the Nitehawks, who had four players suspended as well.
Within a week the team traded two players and hired new interim head coach Briar McNaney, who in February signed on to take the job through the 2023-24 season.
But the brawl had irreparably derailed the Leafs’ campaign. In 2022 they came within three wins of a league championship, but in this year’s playoffs Nelson was eliminated in the first round by — you guessed it — the Nitehawks.
Nearly a year after the incident, Nelson’s reputation and results are still in recovery. The team entered the holiday break in fourth place in their division.