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A wild postgame brawl following a contentious game between Utah Valley and New Mexico State highlighted the risks when fans and players collide. Bryan Anger Jersey . The Western Athletic Conference suspended New Mexico State junior guard K.C. Ross-Miller for two games and senior forward Renaldo Dixon for one for violating the leagues sportsmanship policy following its review of the melee Thursday night in Orem, Utah. Ross-Miller hurled the ball at Utah Valleys Holton Hunsaker seconds after the Wolverines 66-61 victory over the Aggies. The ball hit Hunsaker -- the son of Utah Valley coach Dick Hunsaker -- in the leg. Some of the fans who stormed the court following the victory got caught up in the chaos and punches were thrown. New Mexico State guard DK Eldridge was in the middle of the scrum before he was dragged away by Aggies coaches as order was restored. With the victory, the Wolverines claimed the top spot in the conference standings -- their first year in the WAC. While the brawl was touched off by Ross-Millers actions, it sparked renewed debate about player and fan interactions, and the dangers posed when fans rush the court. It was one of several incidents involving fans and players or coaches in recent months. Oklahoma State All-America guard Marcus Smart charged into the stands at Texas Tech on Feb. 8 and shoved a fan who called him a "piece of crap." Smart was suspended for three games and the fan later apologized. Also in February, Oregon coach Dana Altman expressed concerns about safety after two of his staffers said an Arizona State student spit at them at halftime of a game in Tempe, Ariz. Ducks guard Jason Calliste had a verbal confrontation with at least one student late in the first half. The NCAA does not have national rules regarding fans rushing the court because conference offices oversee regular season rules in basketball, including discipline. The SEC does ban the practice, imposing a $5,000 fine on the school for the first offence, and as much as $50,000 for subsequent infractions. Reggie Minton, deputy executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said his organization has discussed the issue in the past and it will be taken up again at meetings in April. "The main concern is for the safety of the visiting players and coaching staff. Rushing the court almost always comes after a key victory or upset by the home team and there are people rushing the court who may or may not understand what sportsmanship is about," Minton said. "We need to explore ways to eliminate the risk to the players, coaches and staff on the court," he added. "Every school should have a plan in place for end of game situations and make sure there is sufficient security and staff available to take control." The WAC issued its suspensions Friday after reviewing the brawl. "There obviously is no place in the Western Athletic Conference or intercollegiate athletics as a whole for the unfortunate events that took place at the conclusion of Thursday nights game," WAC Commissioner Jeff Hurd said. Hurd also said in a statement that there would be further review of the safety issues involved, and he has additional games management information from Utah Valley. Hurd praised the coaches for both teams. "The situation could have been much worse if it had not been for outstanding effort of both the New Mexico State and Utah Valley coaching staffs," Hurd said. "They were instrumental in separating their student-athletes from what could have been an even uglier situation." Before the WAC weighed in on additional penalties, New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies suspended Ross-Miller indefinitely pending the WACs decision. The junior starter averages 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists. "No matter what provoked K.C. what he did was inexcusable and hence the suspension. It is an honour and a privilege to wear an Aggie uniform and a responsibility comes with that privilege," Menzies said in a statement Friday. The game between the WAC co-leaders at the UCCU centre was attended by a season-high 4,954 fans. Ross-Miller issued a statement apologizing for his actions. "I have way more respect for the university, my teammates and coaches to retaliate in such a terrible way," he said. "I know better to let my opponents and emotions get the best of me and I regret doing what I did, not only because it was stupid and selfish, but because of the situation that I have created for my team, coaches and the university. The Wolverines issued a brief statement via Twitter: "The incident following Thursdays game was an unfortunate and sour endnote to an otherwise brilliant performance by both teams." The team referred all further inquiries to the WAC. Utah Valley (17-10, 11-3) is atop the WAC standings going into Saturdays home game against Texas Pan-American. New Mexico State (21-9, 10-4) visits Bakersfield on Saturday. Warren Sapp Jersey . Coach Randy Carlyle didnt know the severity of Bozaks injury. Bozak left the bench and went down the tunnel early in the second period, returned to play a handful of shifts and then did play in the third. Jordan Whitehead Jersey . -- Navy football player Will McKamey, who has been hospitalized since collapsing at practice three days ago, has died while in a coma. http://www.officialtampabaybuccaneersfootball.com/authentic-brent-grimes-jersey-womens .com) - Former New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya is joining the Major League Baseball Players Association staff as a senior advisor to executive director Tony Clark.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, I was timekeeping a AAA minor midget game last week when the following happened. A player was skating down the wing and then wound up to take a huge slap shot. When he took the shot, the puck actually split into two pieces with both halves of the puck entering the net for a score. Should the goal be allowed or not? Has anything weird like that ever happened to you in the pros during your career? One ref at the game actually thought a goal should be allowed but after all three officials got together, there was a ruling of no goal with the faceoff inside the zone. Thought maybe a weird situation would put a bit of a change of pace to your column. Cheers,Edward Sherr Edward: As weird as it sounds, I do recall a hard shot ring off the goal post in an NHL game I worked that caused the puck to break in half. Neither chunk of vulcanized rubber entered the net but instead split off in different directions. One piece travelled toward the end zone corner while the other portion found its way into the slot. Players scrambled in both directions, instinctively chasing the black disc that was nearest their position. I recall the look of shock on each players face after recognizing only half a puck existed in two different locations on the ice. I blew my whistle to halted play for this unusual situation. A discussion then ensued as to who caused the stoppage of play with regard to the resulting face-off location. The defending team protested that the attacking team had caused the stoppage with a shot that broke the puck. They rationalized their position no differently than shooting or deflecting the puck over the boards. I settled on the claim that it wasnt "who" (which team) but "what" (a faulty puck) that caused the stoppage and the resulting face-off was taken in the end zone corner where half the puck had come to rest. The fact is, Edward, that the entire puck must completely cross the goal line to count as a legal goal. Half a puck just doesnt cut it. The officials in the AAA Midget game, therefore, made the correct call; including the resulting end zone face-off location. Amendment/Addition: You have correctly noted from Edwards question that both halves of the broken puck entered the net. While there is nothing presently in the NHL Officiating Case book or anything that I could find in the Canadian Hockey Case Book or playing rules on the subject, we need to look at rule 13 - Puck. The puck shall be made of vulcanized rubber, or other approved material, one inch (1") thick and three inches (3") in diameter and shall weigh between five and one-half ounces (5 1/2 oz.) and six ounces (6 oz.). All pucks used in competition must be approved by the Leaggue. Custom Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys. A puck that has broken in half does not conform to this rule in specified size or weight, nor is it approved for legal play. No goal would result should a puck that was broken in half and therefore deemed unfit for play (illegal) enter the net. This would include the case where separated halves found their way into the net. During the season, I had the puck split in half. Inglasco (the official puck supplier to the NHL) was having some quality control issues. You might recall that routine shots were causing the protective glass behind the goal to break at an unprecedented rate. I was told that there was a component in the puck that was causing this to occur. While that problem was quickly rectified, it brought special attention to the puck and particularly the inconsistency with which it settled or bounced on the ice. A study, conducted by an NHL-hired consultant with a PHD specializing in the field of rubber, revealed the ideal temperature at which frozen vulcanized rubber provided the optimum density to slide across the ice and minimize the bounce effect. Following the study, game puck supplies were to be kept in a special temperature controlled freezer that were installed in every NHL arena. Pucks that previously were kept cool in a bucket of ice at the penalty timekeeper bench were secured in a mini-freezer by an off-ice crew member that was in charge of pucks. Memos were sent to the head of each Off-Ice Crew on the new puck handling policy and optimum temperature that must be maintained. Linesmen were instructed to change out the pucks on a frequent basis. I will tell you first hand that the density of the frozen puck was noticeable when on occasion I was struck by one. Even a glancing blow provided an extra sting not previously experienced! With all this hoopla of information being circulated over the ideal puck temperature, Jeff Weintraub, head of the NY Islanders Off-Ice Crew (and a dear friend of all the NHL Officials) decided to have a little fun with us. Prior to a game I worked in Nassau Coliseum, Jeff entered our dressing room with a very serious look on his face and asked me if I would check the temperature of the game puck. Confused, I asked how the heck he expected me to do that. From behind Jeffs back he exposed a NY Islander puck with a hole drilled in it. Inserted in the hole was a "rectal thermometer!" What a ball-buster Jeff was. The bouncing puck also led to snow buildup being scrapped from the goal crease and around the dasher boards during commercial time-outs. Very quickly through the scraping process guys in sweat suits were replaced by scantily clad "Ice Girls." Its truly amazing the progress I witnessed during my 30 years as an NHL referee. 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