Rangers Fans Beaten By Flyers Fans Who Brag About It On Facebook

A group of men— wearing Philadelphia Flyers jerseys—beat up an off-duty cop— who was dressed in New York Rangers gear— outside a famous Philly cheesesteak shop after the "Winter Classic" on Monday.

The three Philly goons were videotaped sucker-punching the Woodbridge, N.J. police officer and attacking another man, then pummeling both of them after they fell to the ground outside Geno's steaks.

Then one of the the knucklehead Philly fans had the gall to boast about the disturbing beat-down on Facebook, according to police.  Philadelphia cops are now questioning Edward Neary— the man who reportedly posted about his cowardly act on the Facebook page of the Broad Street Hockey blog.

"It was me and my friends, do something something about it," Neary boasted in the comments section which showed a video of the fight.

Neary's post had a homophobic slur followed by this moronic statement: "How dumb do I look knocking someone out pretty sure they look dumb eatin concrete," according to reports.

Later, Neary backed off his boast and blamed three friends for the attack.

The video shows the cop, Neal Auricchio Jr., 30, being blind-sided and ganged up by a group of men clad in Flyers jerseys after some trash talking.

The attack happened shortly after the NHL's showcase hockey game between the Rangers and Flyers on Monday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.

The Rangers won 3-2.

Auricchio is a former US Marine who earned a Purple Heart.  He was hospitalized for a concussion and received stitches to close his wounds.

No arrests have been made.

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Islanders TV Slug-Fest Cancelled: Fans Could Have Gone To Mets Hug-Fest Instead

Pressure from the NHL and a backlash from "purist" hockey fans has caused the MSG Network to scrap plans for the rebroadcast of a brawl-filled New York Islanders-Pittsburgh Penguins game at a "viewing party."  The infamous Feb. 11 contest was filled with fight after fight after fight.  Both teams combined for 65 penalties, 346 penalty minutes and 10 ejections in the 9-3 Isles victory.

Critics claimed this particular game shed a bad light on the sport.

Is it so bad that a hockey game actually had 12 goals, had more punches than a Wladimir Klitschko heavyweight fight and filled a normally boring arena with excitement?  The NHL thought so.  Anyway, here's a sample of what fans will be missing.

The Islanders/Penguins cage-match had 15 fighting majors and 20 misconducts.  It set records for both teams for most combined penalty minutes and almost left both teams with barely enough players to finish the game.

The NHL suspended Islanders Trevor Gillies for nine games, Mark Martin for four and handed the club a whopping $100,000 fine.

It's not every night-- actually it's not any night-- the Islanders can fill an arena-- never mind a bar.  The last time the team won a championship "Tron" was boring people at the theaters-- the original  Tron.

Tonight's viewing party is at a Champions in Long Island and was part of an eight-game series to promote the team and relive last season's few highlights.  MSG-Plus will now air a rebroadcast of an Islanders game against the Buffalo Sabres.  You remember that game...yawn.

It's just foreplay before the team joins the Nets at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in a couple of years anyway.

Tonight, if fans wanted less thugs and more hugs, they could have headed over to Citi Field instead.

The first 100 fans who arrive at Friday's Mets game against the Milwaukee Brewers get free admission, if they take part in celebrity Nick Cannon's "Hug It Out," in an attempt to set a Guinness world record for most hugs in an hour.  I guess Johan Santana was considered too brittle.

Cannon, singer Mariah Carey's husband, should get home more often.  How else can you explain why the host of America's Got Talent and a NYC morning radio show would want to touch over 1,800 desperate Mets fans.  He'll be covered in tears.

So head out to Citi Field and hug the new Ryan  Seacrest and get a free T-shirt to prove it.