The final of the Olympic men’s hockey erupted into a mass brawl on Thursday after Dutch player Duco Telgenkamp celebrated scoring the winning goal by shushing in the face of the German goalkeeper.

With the scoreline tied at 1-1 at the end of regulation time, the match went to a shootout to decide who picked up the gold medals. The Netherlands took an early lead thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak, leaving Telgenkamp with a chance to seal the victory with his shot.

The 22-year-old duly converted, chipping the ball over the outstretched arm of the German keeper Jean-Paul Danneberg. As the Dutch players stormed over to celebrate, Telgenkamp stoked the fires, putting his finger to his lips and shushing his rival at close quarters.

A handful of the German players took issue with Telgenkamp’s gloating with Niklas Wellen rushing into a huddle of celebrating Dutch players in an attempt to enact revenge. He was intercepted by some of the agitator’s team-mates, and a brawl commenced.

In the post-match press conference, after the chaos had subsided, Telgenkamp explained that his unsportsmanlike actions were a reaction to Danneberg’s comments. The German goalkeeper insinuated that the Dutch were afraid to face his team.

Explaining himself, Telgenkamp cut a fine line between apologising for and justifying his actions. “In hindsight, I shouldn’t have gone to him. I regret that. I also apologise,” he said. “I should have let it go and it wasn’t very smart.

“But it’s also a bit the nature of the beast. I can be very cool-headed, but I can also let myself go. Is that part of it? He affected me personally. Sports are not business, it doesn’t take much to be provoked. That’s how I go into the match. I felt a bit offended.”

Meanwhile, the mood in the German camp was one of disappointment and frustration. Forward Christopher Ruhr insisted that his team deserved to win the game and was dissatisfied with his silver medal.

“We deserved to win the gold medal. It was an incredibly close match that came down to the shoot-out,” he complained. “The Dutch team had the luck today, but our overall performance was strong. I think it is phenomenal that we made it to two finals at major sports events and won major knockout games.”