You'd Lose Your Mind Too, If You Had To Coach Hockey In Louisiana

Brent Sapergia only lasted two games as coach of the Louisiana IceGators, but he made them count—getting thrown out of both and making himself internet famous with an epic, bench-clearing temper tantrum.

Just three games into their inaugural season in the Southern Professional Hockey League, head coach Ron Handy abruptly quit to "focus on community relations and off-ice operations." Apparently, losing the team's first three games didn't fall under that rubric. Caught in a bind, general manager and team president Brent Sapergia put himself behind the bench for last week's two game series against Pensacola. It did not go well. He received a game misconduct in both games and has been banned from coaching by the league after responding to penalty call by taking anything not nailed down to his bench and hurling it on the ice.

Is Sapergia crazy ... or crazy like a fox? Is it too cynical to think that the Bill Veeck of Southeastern Minor League hockey cooked up this rant to draw some attention to his floundering expansion team? The IceGators—a non-indigenous species, obviously—were resurrected in 2009 after a previous incarnation of the franchise folded four years ago. And before this moment, were you aware that there was a hockey team in Lafayette, Louisiana? Didn't think so.

Or maybe he's just a really, really bad coach. Eh, I'll just go with that one.

[Video: AP, via Busted Coverage] Struggling IceGators get new coach [The Independent] The Official IceGators Website [Icegators.com] Ice Flyers open at home with win [Pensacola News Journal]