Blackhawks Fan Booted from Tampa Arena After Cheering for 'Wrong' Team

When former Joliet resident Victoria Greene attended the Blackhawks hockey game against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday night, she knew there would be a lot of Lightning fans there, but she didn’t think she and her boyfriend would be kicked out for cheering on the Blackhawks.

Greene said that after the second goal she saw a Tampa police officer motioning for her to come in his direction.

“I was told that I was being removed and needed to leave the area,” Greene said. “We kept asking if we could stay and watch the game in the aisles and was told, ‘No.’”

The police officer told Greene that if she continued to ask questions or refused to leave the arena she would be arrested.

According to Greene, the officer said the reason behind the removal was that she was cheering too much and was too loud.

The Amalie Arena, where the game was played, has a capacity of over 20,000 people.

Greene said she pleaded with the officer to speak to the usher near where Greene and her boyfriend were sitting.

“(The usher) knew that we had been having problems all night with the same fans,” Greene said. “Those fans tried to kick out one of the other Blackhawks fans that was sitting near me before the game even started.”

Once it became clear the Blackhawks would win the game, Greene said, the Lightning fans stopped trying to be nice and were going to do anything they could do to be malicious.

Despite it all, Greene understands where the police officer was coming from, but still thought she wasn’t acting inappropriately.

“They’re just trying to control the crowd,” Greene said. “But if I’m able to have a coherent conversation with you, I’m not screaming at you, I’m not trying to hit you, I’m not resisting. I didn’t do any of that stuff. I feel like the force was way too much for the situation.”

Greene and her boyfriend then left the arena and were able to catch the last few moments of the game at Corona Bar, which is almost right outside the stadium.

Outside of the bar, Greene said she talked with some other people who were told they couldn’t cheer.

“They weren’t kicked out, but they were yelled at and they were told they couldn’t cheer or be as excited as they were,” Greene said. “It’s not even like this is a rivalry. It’s not even like people in Tampa even like hockey. They were trying to control the situation and (they’ve) blown it completely out of proportion.”

Tampa Police Officer Dennis Small said that a berth is given to fans so they can enjoy themselves, but he would be surprised if Greene was ejected for cheering too loud.

“Things run kind of high when you’re here rooting for your team, especially when it’s something for the Stanley Cup. If she was ejected for cheering too loud, it doesn’t sound like something that would happen at the arena,” Small said.

Small said he would look into the matter.

A spokesman for the Amalie Arena also said he would look into the situation.