A professional ice hockey team has been forced to issue an apology for a piñ​ata joke which provoked an angry newspaper column and outrage on social media.

At half-time during the Minnesota Wild's game against the Montreal Canadiens this week, a selection of NHL mascots took to the ice to celebrate Nordy's "birthday".

Nordy - the Wild's mascot - was "blindfolded" and given a baseball bat in order to crack open a piñ​ata being held up by Tommy Hawk - the mascot of the Chicago Blackhawks. But all part of the prank was that Nordy would miss the piñ​ata and instead hit Tommy Hawk - who had earlier shoved cake in his face backstage.

Egged on by the announcer, Nordy started swinging with a little too much fervour, connecting with Tommy Hawk's midriff before hitting his fellow mascot at least 10 times. He was eventually dragged away by the NJ Devil as Louie - the St Louis Blues mascot - looked on aghast.

"Nordy, you hit the piñata! Keep swinging, keep swinging," the announcer implored. "You almost broke it open!"

Nordy caught Tommy Hawk right in the midriff (NHL/Twitter)

Tommy Hawk lay "unconscious" - maybe even "dead" - on the ice.

While the reaction from the crowd seemed fairly lukewarm, responses on Twitter - where a video of the incident was shared - and in the pages of the esteemed Chicago Tribune were far less enthusiastic.

In a column titled "Violent NHL mascot skit delivers a blow to league's family-friendly image", reporter Chris Kuc described the "fight" as "disturbing".

"I was glad I wasn't in the stands with my young son having to explain why his favorite mascot was just apparently beaten with a baseball bat," Kuc explained.

"Whatever the Wild were thinking, it clearly was not about the children in the stands.

"Shame on the Wild for that."

Over on Twitter, the outrage machine was in full flow too.

One woman commented: "How exactly should I explain this to my kids? As a mom and even as a former mascot, I find this despicable. As a mascot, I would've been fired and sued for damages to the suit."

Another said: "Promoting violence in front of thousands of people and kids. Come on Wild....gotta be smarter than that."

While the NHL initially tweeted out photos of the fight to its 5.3m followers, the league later contacted the Wild asking them to explain themselves, Kuc reports.