A series of fights early Sunday morning Uptown ended in the arrests of four Ohio University club ice hockey players, but no one was seriously injured, according to reports from the Athens Police Department.
The players have been suspended indefinitely from the team, and the duration of the suspensions will be determined after a thorough investigation is conducted, according to a statement released by head coach Dan Morris.
It's unfortunate for our team because the actions of a few kind of ruined the high point of our seasons so far - beating Illinois - and put it to the low point in only a few hours
Morris said in a statement. That's probably the biggest thing we've had to deal with.
Ohio beat Illinois 4-1 in Saturday night's game at Bird Arena before the fights occurred.
Around 2:45 a.m. Sunday, APD officers responded to a call about two men who were fighting in the street in front of Pawpurr's Bar, 37 N. Court St, said Lt. Ralph Harvey, who responded to the call.
When APD officers arrived on the scene, the two men - later identified as William Johnson, 22, and Ross Wimer, 21 - continued fighting, and the officers called for backup, Harvey said.
Wimer plays ice hockey for Ohio, but Johnson, of Athens, is not listed on the roster.
Officers from the Ohio University Police Department, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Athens County Sheriff's Office responded to the call for assistance, the police report said.
It just so happened that they were all in the area within a minute arrival time Harvey said. It really was not a big fight. It seems bigger than it was.
Two other fights broke out as Johnson was being arrested, the police report said, but Harvey said he did not know whether those fights were related to the first fight.
As more officers arrived, some members of the crowd outside Pawpurr's, including Wimer, went up into the stairway leading to the apartment at 39 1/2 N. Court St. Officers arrested Wimer inside the apartment on charges of disorderly conduct for fighting and resisting arrest. Johnson was charged with disorderly conduct for fighting.
Officers arrested three other OU hockey players inside the apartment. Derek DeFelice, 22, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct by intoxication for another fight that occurred while officers were inside the apartment, the report said. Michael Peota, 20, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct for fighting for his involvement in the fight in front of Pawpurr's, and Gary Hupp, 19, was arrested on charges of underage consumption.
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