Paul Bissonnette spoke out for the first time about the altercation he found himself in that resulted in the arrests of six individuals at a Scottsdale, Arizona restaurant.
The popular Barstool podcaster and former NHLer released a nearly three-and-a-half-minute video detailing what happened on Sunday night at Houston’s in Scottsdale, a restaurant Bissonnette said he regularly dines at.
The former Coyotes agitator said he stepped in after he saw a group of “drunk golfers” giving the restaurant staff a hard time and at one point one of the men got into the manager’s face and started to get physical.
“You could tell he was a little shocked and surprised and stunned,” Bissonnette recalled. “It’s a family restaurant. I don’t think there was anybody in there who could go maybe like help him out. I went over, I just grabbed the guy’s arm that was on him, I said ‘Sir, if you continue to harass and assault the staff, we’re going to have problems.’
“And then they just started chucking, so it escalated extremely quickly.”
Authorities told Fox 10 in Phoenix that six individuals had been arrested as a result of the melee, but Bissonnette said in his video that seven people had been involved and that he fought with “throughout the course of the restaurant all the way into the parking lot over to CVS.”
The fight got vicious at times by the way it was described by Bissonnette, who had been involved in 69 fights in his hockey career according to hockeyfights.com.
“Got taken down a couple times,” he said. “Got boot f–ked a couple of times by the CVS. Luckily didn’t get knocked out. Did go to the hospital, so that’s what everybody is reading about. Just bad dudes. Way too drunk and I don’t know what else they had in their system.
“I’m very, very angry at these guys and kind of want their names out there and kind of want them to pay the piper.”
Police have not released the names of the six people who were arrested for assault and disorderly conduct.
Five of the men are facing misdemeanors and the sixth person is facing a felony, according to Fox 10.
The altercation occurred around 7:30 p.m. local time, the outlet reported.
Bissonnette insisted that “all’s good” and he thanked the restaurant staff and responding officers.
“Unacceptable behavior at a family restaurant just because they couldn’t grab another cocktail and didn’t want to hear ‘no’ for an answer,” He said. “At that point, with the guy all over the manager, I just figured I had to go over. Took some, gave more.”
Bissonnette played for the Coyotes from 2009-2014 and after ending his playing career kicked off a successful broadcasting career.
Bissonnette co-hosts the popular “Spittin Chiclets” podcast for Barstool Sports and is an analyst for TNT’s national NHL coverage.