Dave Portnoy, the president of Barstool where Paul Bissonnette works, received news that his star hockey podcaster was the subject of a violent attack. The former NHL player was involved in an altercation at a steakhouse on Sunday evening and ended up on the receiving end of blows by an estimated seven people.
When Portnoy found out about it, he reached out to Bissonnette, who confirmed that he took a beating but gave out a harsher one. While in the NHL, Bissonnette was known for his fighting prowess.
In response, Portnoy had just one word to describe his employee's fight: "vintage." Bissonnette fought countless times during his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Phoenix Coyotes in his six-year NHL career, and fighting has not left him after transitioning to the media.
Paul Bissonnette details altercation with seven men that resulted in major fight
On Sunday night, Paul Bissonnette went out to Houston's, a steakhouse that he said he visits a few times a week. He called the staff and the food "incredible" and said that he loves going there.
"At one point there was a bit of a ruckus going on in the bar – it was a bunch of drunk golfers," Bissonnette said on Tuesday, via FOX News. "Things obviously continued to escalate. They asked one guy to leave and then one guy kept getting in the manager’s face, put his hands on him and that went on for probably 30-45 seconds. You could tell he was a little shocked and surprised and stunned."
Bissonnette added that since it's a family restaurant, he didn't think anyone would go out and help the manager. He decided to take that upon himself, taking the assailant's arm and said that there would be problems if he continued to "harass and assault the staff."
That's when things went downhill, as members of the group began fighting Bissonnette.
"Then they just started chucking," Bissonnette said. "So, it escalated extremely quickly. I think it was seven guys I fought with throughout the course of the restaurant all the way into the parking lot over to CVS."
The former NHL star then said he got kicked in the head several times and that the group was bad, drunk patrons of the restaurant.