RED DEER, Canada (WSVN) — Former Florida Panthers player Nick Tarnasky was involved in a viral physical altercation on a Canadian golf course over the weekend.
The former NHL enforcer was golfing at Alberta Springs Golf Course, located in Red Deer, Alberta, when he and another golfer who appeared to be intoxicated got into a fistfight after a heated verbal exchange.
Tarnasky and his golfing partner appeared to be frustrated with the other man over how slowly they were playing through the course.
When Tarnasky repeatedly told the man to stop taking so long teeing up, things quickly became physical.
“He’s been sitting there for [expletive] 23 minutes,” Tarnasky could be heard yelling at the man.
“Cry about it!” the man yelled back at him.
At one point, the man appeared to be taunting Tarnasky before charging at him.
Tarnasky shoved the man to the ground near a pond, continuing to shout at him.
“He [expletive] came at me!” Tarnasky yelled at the man’s golfing partner.
After the man got back up, he went back toward Tarnasky, who started swinging several punches at the man, yelling “bang” between each strike and shoving him to the ground a second time.
A known fighter on the ice, Tarnasky was first drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003 and played 245 games in the NHL, spending 300 minutes of those games in the penalty box.
Canadian authorities said the matter has been closed, and Tarnasky will not be put behind bars, but the Red Deer minor league hockey team he coaches for has said they are looking into the incident.
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