A massive brawl that broke out during a Chinese hockey game has not just caused some bruises, but has also hurt the feelings of an outraged Chinese public.

After a video of the 10-man melee gained massive attention online, the brawl was widely condemned by the public at large as well as figures from the country's sport industry.

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During the 11th minute of Monday's Chinese national men's hockey championship game between Beijing and Harbin, Beijing captain Ying Rudi tussled with Harbin's Xia Tianxing in front of the Beijing net, knocking off Xia's helmet in the process. The jostle for control quickly escalated into a wild fight involving almost all the players on the ice.

With the four ice officials unable to control the fracas, some players took advantage of the chaos to inflict violence upon the opposing team.

As seen in a video recording, Harbin player Wen Chao (in the blue #5 jersey) skates up to a Beijing player and immediately elbows him in the face, dropping him to the ground where he lay motionless for over a minute. Seconds later, Wen is seen skating up to Beijing's Song Andong and punching him while Song is busy fighting another Harbin player.

Leading the condemnation of the excessive violence is CCTV sports commentator Han Qiaosheng. "I think this is an embarrassment of Chinese hockey," wrote Han on his personal Weibo micro-blogging account. "If the hockey department and the winter sports management center don't deal with this strictly ... then team China will lose."

The factor that has inflamed the Chinese public the most regarding Monday's brawl is the perception that the athletes are too young.

On the video, a female spectator is heard accusing the opposing team of bullying smaller players. "Adults beating up little children, you think you're so tough?" The same concern was also brought up by Han in his post when he wrote: "The first player that was hit is just a 16-year-old child ... the second to be attacked was Song Andong, who is just 20 years old ... "

Sun Rui, former captain of the Chinese women's hockey team, also condemned the fighting. "No matter what, I hope that everyone can deal with the situation with a level head and be more forgiving, understanding, and respectful," said Sun before adding: "A gentleman would not act this way in a gentlemen's sport."

"The sport of hockey is one big family," said Sun. "We are all like brothers, so let's not harm each other."

On Tuesday, the Chinese hockey association condemned the incident, vowing it will crackdown on any illegal behavior during competitions.

In a statement, the association said Chinese hockey players must serve as responsible role models for the country's next generation of young hockey players. "The entire Chinese hockey world must maintain a clean, fair, and orderly development environment as well as to firmly stop unsavory incidents from happening," it said.

China's intolerance for excessive violence in hockey has been laid down before. In 2016, China's winter sports authority banned Chinese hockey player Lang Bingyu from ever playing in China again after he speared an opponent, knocking out three of his teeth and requiring him to receive 42 stitches.

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Xia Tianxiang was eventually penalized 12 minutes for his role in the brawl. Penalties were also awarded to Harbin players #6 and #17 as well as to Beijing's Song Andong. In the end, Harbin won the game, 5-7 over Beijing.

Some netizens have voiced suspicions that much of the attention given to Monday's brawl is due to Ying being the son of acclaimed Chinese actor and director Ying Da. At the same time, Ying has tried to correct the misconception that Chinese people have towards hockey.

In an extensive blog, Ying explained that fighting serves a purpose in the sport of hockey in which intimidation of your opponents is a key factor towards winning. "Fighting is in fact allowed in hockey competitions, but only in professional leagues. What's more, both sides have to agree to fight."

Ying explained that during a hockey fight, teammates are not allowed to join in or perform a sneak attack, a point that the Beijing News emphasized with the headline "In professional hockey leagues, there are unwritten rules to fighting." By contrast, an ugly bench-clearing brawl broke out last month between the China Dragon team and the Daemyung Killer Whales in Beijing, while an all-out team war erupted between China and Japan during the 2014 Asian Ice Hockey Championship.

Ying said hockey fights are just a part of the nature of the sport, and bears no ill-will towards Xia. "Even though we are competitors on the ice, we are friends when we are off the ice," said Ying, adding that he and Xia are teammates on the KHL Beijing Kunlun Red Star hockey team, “In the end, we both share the same ultimate goal: to fight for Chinese hockey."

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With the 2022 Olympics looming in the near future, China is currently attempting to raise its chances of bringing home hockey gold by importing help as far away as Canada and the Czech Republic.

Last year, Song Andong made headlines by becoming the first Chinese-born hockey player to be drafted into the NHL.

Here's a slow-motion replay of some of Monday's brawl:

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Twitter: @Sinopath

Images: Sina Entertainment, Miaopai