It started with what people thought would be just like any other game in Boston. With about 6 minutes remaining, the Bruins were killing a penalty and the Canadiens pulled their goalie to make it a 6-on-4 situation. Rocket Richard was skating down with the puck and coming across the blueline. Suddenly, Hal Laycoe, a Bruins defenceman, high-sticked Richard on the side of the head. The ref raised his arm for the penalty but didn't blow the whistle because the Canadiens still had the puck. He skated around the net and was skating towards the blueline as the whistle blew. He signalled to the ref that he was injured by rubbing his head but then suddenly dashed towards Laycoe and swung his stick over his head striking Laycoe on the shoulder and face. Laycoe must've assumed Richard just wanted to fist-fight because he had dropped his stick and gloves. The linesmen restrained him and took away Richard's stick. Richard found a loose stick and struck Laycoe twice across the back before being restrained by the same linesman. But he broke away again, found another stick, and struck Laycoe on the back a third time. Finally, the linesman forced Richard to the ice and held him there. But then a Habs player pushed him off, and Richard got up and punched this linesman twice. The ref gave Richard the most severe penalty a ref can give a player: a match penalty. A match penalty means a player is ejected from a game, a teammate must serve the penalty for 10 minutes while the team plays short-handed, an automatic suspension and possibly a fine. Laycoe got a major for the high-sticking but he got an extra misconduct for refusing to sit in the box.
A few days later, the ruling came down on Rocket Richard's suspension. He would miss the rest of the 1955 regular season PLUS the entire playoffs. This infuriated the loyal Habs fans to the point that the entire day leading up to the March 17, 1955 game at the Forum against Detroit, Clarence Campbell, the president of the NHL, had received numerous death threats over the phone. That night at the game, he arrived about 15 minutes late with his secretary, and was booed as he made his way to the seat. Twice at the end of the first period, Campbell had been confronted in his seat. The first man lashed out at him while the second squashed a couple of tomatoes on Campbell's chest. Fans were throwing anything they could at him, whether it be peanuts, programs, coins and even an egg. But it was at just after 9:00 p.m. when the riot was to start. The Wings were leading 4-1 when a fan lobbed a tear-gas bomb just metres away from Campbell and suddenly you had 16,000 fans rushing for the exits. Campbell rushed to the Forum clinic where he made the decision to end the game and award it to the Wings who were winning at the time.
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