UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Bad Santa isn't just a holiday movie.

A seemingly harmless Christmas promotion arranged by the New York Islanders turned ugly, and all because of the team's fierce

rivalry with the New York Rangers.

And the Rangers were nowhere near when trouble broke out.

The promotion invited fans to dress up as Santa Claus for

Tuesday night's game against the Philadelphia Flyers and be

admitted to the Nassau Coliseum for free. What's more, they were

permitted to parade across the ice between periods.

About 1,000 Santa Clauses showed up and as promised, they were

invited on the ice after the first period.

This turned out to be not such a good idea. As the Santas milled

around, two of them removed their red jackets to reveal jerseys of

the rival Rangers -- not a good thing to do in the home of the

Islanders.

Ignoring the holiday spirit, some of the other St. Nicks turned

into Bad Santas, jumping the Ranger fans. The interlopers were

knocked to the ice and had the shirts ripped off. Other Santas went

sliding across the ice during the melee that took six minutes to

settle down.

The entire parade took nearly nine minutes, and almost delayed

the start of the second period. The players were unaware of what

was happening on the ice until after the game, won by the Islanders

4-2.

Maybe it was the presence of the Flyers that set off the fans.

Philadelphia, remember, is where Santa was once booed in a holiday

parade.

When New York's Arron Asham learned about what had happened, he

grinned.

What did he think about the episode?

"Awesome," Asham said.