An NHL referee paid the price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time ... he was blasted in the balls with a puck, but thankfully, the family jewels are still intact!
The cringe-inducing moment happened during the Vancouver Canucks-Utah Hockey Club game on Sunday at the Delta Center. Official Justin Kea was on the ice, doing his job.
Unfortunately, Kea inadvertently got in the way when Hockey Club forward Alexander Kerfoot attempted to get the puck down the ice and away from Canucks' Conor Garland.
The moment was captured on the broadcast ... Kerfoot turned around and fired the puck, not realizing Kea was right in his path ... and BOOM!
Justin Bieber wasn't afraid to play dirty during a charity hockey game, getting in a scrap with former NHL star Jeremy Roenick ... but there's no bad blood.
On Sunday, Bieber was participating in the Skate For L.A. Strong event at Crypto.com Arena ... and the game hilariously took a turn when Biebs and Roenick duked it out in the rink.
Check out the video ... JB flips Roenick's jersey over the ex-NHLer's head and playfully fakes to uppercut his chin. Fortunately, this was all in good fun, because Bieber definitely has control!
Team USA and Canada might have been locked in a heated battle Thursday night in Boston ... but both sides came together to pay their respects to the late Johnny Gaudreau, with the late hockey star's wife saying she got "emotional" hearing the chants.
The moment went down during the second period of action in the 4 Nations Championship match at the TD Garden in Beantown, with fans chanting "Johnny Hockey" in honor of the former Columbus Blue Jacket.
Gaudreau's wife, Meredith, responded to the chants with a post on X, saying, "Kept thinking about how I can't wait to show these videos to our kids one day."
Justin Trudeau broke out a big ol' jug of salt and poured it all over the United States' wounds on Thursday night ... dancing on the American hockey team's grave after it lost a heartbreaker to Canada.
In the deciding game of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, Connor McDavid scored an overtime goal to give the Canadians the championship trophy over USA ... and not long after, Trudeau took to his X page to gloat about the win.
Making reference to Donald Trump's various threats of annexing Canada ... Trudeau smugly wrote, "You can’t take our country -- and you can’t take our game."
Canadians are pissed at Americans over President Trump imposing tariffs on our ally to the north — and nowhere is this more evident than in the hockey rink.
Three fights broke out in a manner of 9 seconds during Saturday’s USA-Canada 4 Nations Face Off game in Montreal — and the Canadian crowd also booed during the "Star-Spangled Banner" just prior to the brawls.
Check out these videos that capture the fists flying between the U.S. and Canadian hockey players. Both sides are clearly not seeing eye to eye and taking out their aggression on one another.
The singer who had boos rain down on her during her rendition of the national anthem at the Canucks game will have the chance to perform once more without the jeers -- as she tells TMZ Sports the NHL team wants her back ASAP!
The uncomfortable scene all unfolded just before the Vancouver vs. Detroit tilt at Rogers Arena on Sunday night ... as Canadians voiced their displeasure with recent Donald Trump tariffs while Agasha Mutesasira was crooning "The Star-Spangled Banner."
TMZSports.com
Mutesasira told us, fortunately, she didn't take anything personally ... revealing the team and others had told her there was a strong possibility it could all happen following Trump's decision.
President Trump pissed off Canadians with his announcement Saturday of new tariffs against America's partner to the north — and the tension between the two countries has already bled into the NHL.
The Ottawa Senators played the Minnesota Wild at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ontario on Saturday night — but the political drama took place even before the referee dropped the puck.
It all went down during the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Check out the video … Ottawa songstress Mandia was belting out the American National Anthem in front of about 20,000 fans — largely Canadians — many of whom started to boo. But you gotta hand it to Mandia who powered through all the way to the end.
Wednesday night's matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets looked more like a scene from "Fight Club" ... 'cause Ryan Reaves and Mathieu Olivier traded vicious punches in a wild brawl!!
It didn't take long for the two opponents to drop the gloves ... with the moment going down less than two minutes into the contest. Immediately after a faceoff, they dropped their gear and sized each other up.
38-year-old Reaves landed the first punch, but it was a pretty even fight from there ... as both guys got good shots in amid the scrap.
The referees were clearly entertained ... 'cause they waited some time before sending each athlete to the penalty box.
Washington Capitals star Logan Thompson had an excuse for giving up a bit of a soft goal on Tuesday night ... but, warning, it's pretty cheesy!!!
In the third period of the Caps' tilt with the Oilers in Edmonton, Corey Perry snuck one by Thompson's right shoulder to make the game 3-2 ... but immediately after the score, the goalie argued it shouldn't count.
Thompson pointed at a plate of nachos that had been chucked onto the ice just seconds before Perry unloaded a slap shot -- making it clear the queso bites distracted him.
1:01 PM PT -- Police say, at this time, there is no indication that the break-in at Evgeni Malkin's home is related to other burglaries involving sports stars ... though they added they are still investigating the matter.
Another sports superstar's home has been broken into ... this time, a residence belonging to NHLer Evgeni Malkin was hit -- and his Stanley Cup rings were stolen in the heist, TMZ has confirmed.
The burglary happened on Jan. 11 in the Sewickley Heights-area of Pennsylvania -- right around the time Malkin's Penguins were playing the Ottawa Senators at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
The L.A. wildfires have forced the postponement of an NHL game ... the Kings vs. Flames will not go down as planned on Wednesday night due to the effects of the blazes.
Los Angeles' pro hockey team made the decision just minutes ago ... writing in a statement, "Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community."
"We appreciate the hard-working First Responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community," it said. "We appreciate the Leagues' support in keeping our fans, staff, and players safe."
Seth Edeen is making a name for himself in Hollywood starring in cheesy, short-form soap operas ... and he says the pay-as-you-go model works because the stories are fun and the actors are hot!!!
We got Seth playing basketball at Venice Beach and our photog asked him about the success of his new movie "Breaking The Ice," which is one of the most popular picks on the ReelShort app.
Seth's romance flick is broken down into minute-long episodes, and viewers are able to watch 12 clips for free until ReelShort makes them pay or watch ads to finish the movie. He plays a hockey player who moves back home ... only to find out his high school sweetheart was hiding their secret love child from him.
The FBI is warning pro athletes to be vigilant ... confirming Monday groups of organized thieves are targeting stars' homes in search of high-priced valuables.
The feds issued the alert just a couple days after NBA superstar Luka Doncic became the latest A-lister to have his place broken into ... explaining criminals are hitting residences belonging to big-time players while they're on the road or at games.
"These homes are targeted for burglary due to the perception they may have high-end goods like designer handbags, jewelry, watches, and cash," FBI officials said, according to ABC News.
A fight with a little hockey sprinkled in ... is probably the best way to describe Tuesday's Bruins vs. Jets game in Winnipeg, 'cause there were brawls everywhere!
It's a game the Bruins would just as soon forget -- they lost 8-1 -- and when it became clear in the third period that Boston wasn't winning this one, the NHL game began to look more like UFC 311, with three consecutive fights.
The first fight involved Boston's Trent Frederic and Winnipeg's David Gustafsson ... where Gustafsson was sent to the ice after eating a right hand. The refs quickly jumped in and (temporarily) restored order.
Newly released body cam footage from New Jersey state police captures the moment the driver, accused of killing Johnny Gaudreau and his brother while driving drunk, struggles through a field sobriety test right before being taken into custody.
Check out the clip -- Sean Higgins, puffing on a cigarette, tells officers he was "freaked out" as they questioned him about the crash, claiming he’d had beers but the last one was two hours ago.
Cops ran some tests to see if he was intoxicated, and after eventually being slapped in handcuffs, Sean is heard asking, "Is everybody okay back there? I mean, what happened?" A trooper responds, "We’ll talk about that when we get to the station."
Diddy's facing a mountain of lawsuits from anonymous accusers, but one accuser's name has now been revealed in court docs ... and she's the ex-wife of a professional hockey player.
According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, one of the Jane Does suing Diddy for sexual assault was ordered to reveal her identity if she wanted to continue her lawsuit ... and now we've learned the woman suing is Anna Kane, who used to be married to NHL star Evander Kane.
FYI, Evander has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Anna amended her lawsuit to include her government name. As we already told you, she claims she was just 17 years old and still in high school when Diddy, and others, gang-raped her.