High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Richard Riot was a riot on March 17, 1955 (Saint Patrick`s Day) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The riot was named after Maurice Richard, the star ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). Following a violent altercation on March 13 in which Richard hit a linesman, NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended him for the remainder of the 1954–55 season, including the playoffs. Montreal fans protested that the suspension was too severe; the team`s largely francophone fan base claimed the length of the suspension was motivated by Richard`s French Canadian ethnicity. Outside of Montreal, however, the suspension was seen as justified and, if anything, too short.