Steve, Jeff and Jack Carlson, three brothers who Slapshot's Hanson brothers were based on, started a brawl with the Norsemen during the pre-game skate in retaliation for Norsemen fans bigoted actions towards an African-American player on the Johnstown roster at the previous three games in the series, which had been played in North Tonawanda.

In an ugly incident, a number of Norsemen fans had hurled racial epithets at the player, and some held up derogatory signs, including one stating that blacks should be playing basketball, not hockey.

After the brawl in Johnstown had been broken up by the officials, the Norsemen players and coaches returned to the dressing room and refused to come out to start the game.

According to the Johnstown Jets' Dave Hanson, who the Slap Shot character of Dave "Killer" Carlson was based on, "they (the Norsemen) skated off the ice and went into the locker room and refused to come out to play the game, and we won the game and the series by forfeit.

McKegney had no complaints about his treatment in Buffalo, stating that Western New York's fans treated him "royally.