Paul Bissonnette speaks out after assault at restaurant: ‘Took something, gave more’

Paul Bissonnette spoke for the first time about the altercation he was involved in that resulted in the arrests of six people at a restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The popular Barstool podcaster and former NHLer released a nearly three-and-a-half-minute video detailing what happened Sunday night at Houston’s in Scottsdale, a restaurant Bissonnette said he regularly eats at.

The former Coyotes agitator said he stepped in after he saw a group of “drunk golfers” giving restaurant staff a hard time, and at one point one of the men got in the manager’s face and started getting physical.

“You could tell he was kind of shocked and surprised and stunned,” Bissonnette recalled. “It’s a family restaurant. I don’t think there was anybody in there to go and help him. I went over, I just grabbed the guy’s arm that was on him, I said ‘Lord, if you continue to harass and assault the staff, we will have problems.’

“And then they just started hollering, so it escalated extremely quickly.”

Authorities told Fox 10 in Phoenix, that six people had been arrested as a result of the melee, but Bissonnette said in his video that seven people had been involved and that he fought “throughout the entire course of the restaurant all the way into the parking lot over to CVS.”

The fight turned vicious at times in the way it was described by Bissonnette, who had been involved in 69 fights in his hockey career, according to hockeyfights.com.

“Got taken down a couple of times,” he said. “Got dust f–ked a few times by CVS. Fortunately, I wasn’t knocked out. Went to the hospital so that’s what everyone reads about. Just bad guys. Way too full and I don’t know what else they had in their system.

“I’m very, very angry with these guys and I want their names out there and I want them to pay the piper.”

The police have not released the names of the six people who were arrested for assault and disorderly conduct.

Five of the men face misdemeanor charges, and the sixth person faces a felony, according to Fox 10.

The altercation occurred around 7:30 p.m. local time, the outlet reported.

Bissonnette insisted that “everything is fine,” and he thanked the restaurant staff and responding officers.

“Unacceptable behavior in a family restaurant just because they couldn’t get another cocktail and didn’t want to take ‘no’ for an answer,” he said. “At that point, with the guy all over the manager, I just figured I had to go over. Took some, gave more.”

Bissonnette played for the Coyotes from 2009-2014 and after finishing his playing career started a successful radio career.

Bissonnette co-hosts the popular “Spittin Chiclets” podcast for Barstool Sports and is an analyst for TNT’s national NHL coverage.