A hockey announcer is used to calling the biggest plays on the ice and not the ones in the stands, but that changed Monday night when one minor league play-by-play announcer was struck by a chair thrown by an angry fan.
Brandon Astle was calling the AHL playoff game between the Abbotsford Canucks and the Calgary Wranglers when a fan sitting behind him picked up a chair and threw it at him, striking the back of his legs. Astle's attention quickly shifted from the awaiting faceoff on the ice to the encounter in the stands saying, "Got some yahoo chirping at me from behind. Get out of here! What was he doing? Security! Try that again. I’m fired up. He threw my chair at me, hit me right in the back of the leg. Like, what was he doing here? Unreal. Have another beer."
Astle was not hurt and the fan was removed from the game. The Canucks won the game and advanced to the AHL Western Conference Finals.