A St. Paul man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after he fatally punched a Bloomington hockey coach in 2021 during a fight over social-distance rules.

Ryan Whisler, 45, was initially charged with second-degree unintentional murder, but had the charge reduced to manslaughter as part of a plea agreement. He entered a guilty plea for the manslaughter charge on May 22, court records show.

The night of April 17, 2021, Bloomington Jefferson High School coach Michael G. Ryan, 48, was found by officers lying on his back outside Herbie's on the Park in St. Paul.

Earlier that night, Whisler had punched a hole in a cellophane barrier put in place over a urinal to encourage social distancing, then took a cellphone video of himself urinating into it, according to the criminal complaint. Ryan called Whisler out on the move as they left the bar that night.

Witnesses told police that Whisler punched Ryan, who then fell backward and hit his head on concrete, according to the charges.

Ryan was diagnosed with a brain injury at Regions Hospital. He was taken off life support one day later, and Whisler turned himself in to St. Paul police that day.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office said Ryan's cause of death was a traumatic brain injury because of the assault and subsequent fall. It said the manner of death was a homicide.

According to Ryan's obituary, he was a husband and father of two, and had coached hockey at the peewee, bantam and high school levels and was named head coach for the Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy girls varsity hockey program in 2016.

Staff writer Alex Chhith contributed to this report.