Ban Fighting in Hockey?

**troublesome one** · 03-10-2009, 09:13 PM

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...90210/20090210

Whatdya think, eh?

**hairypumper** · 03-10-2009, 10:23 PM

Yeah, let's get rid of football, boxing, and ultimate fighting too. We could replace them with knitting, hopscotch, and jump rope. (Helmets required of course). People pay to watch hockey as it is, money talks.

**Charles** · 03-11-2009, 07:10 AM

I was reading and listening all day yesterday on NHL.com about this. Most GM's say NO WAY. I can understand trying to make it safer, but then again i cant. fighting in this sport is WAY down compared to the days (70's & 80's) when they were fighting before games in warmups and going into the stands. And the so called staged fights cant really be judged due to the fact that you WILL prove your point and make a statment to someone who cheap shotted your top scorer or took him out, but it may be weeks or months the next time you are on the ice at the same time with him... LEAVE IT BE, IMO if they start regulating everything, just like our government, crap hits the fan. next thing ya know, they wont be able to slap shoot, or check anyone. you can get hurt just as easy from a hard shot or a nice clean BIG hit.

**matt_s** · 03-11-2009, 08:27 AM

For the most part, the Europeans have managed to take fighting out of Hockey on their side of the pond. I don't think fighting adds or detracts from the game. I don't have an issue with fighting from an injury side. It's been a while since somebody was seriously injured in a hockey fight. More get injured in the things that lead up to the fights.

Fighting is way down and I suggest at this point we just let it die a natural death. I think it will work itself out of the game naturally over time.

**Charles** · 03-11-2009, 08:40 AM

well, yes. fighting has died down greatly. BUT, you HAVE to keep it. its a bigger part of the game than most think. if it is completely done with, you'll get more stick work to the head and more cheap shots because the cheapshotter wont worry about getting what they deserve. It changes momentum more than you think also. Back in the day, as one GM stated yesterday, fighting picked up in the playoffs. if you won the first 3 or 4 fights, you more than likley will win that series.... now, there is no fighting in the playoffs. i love hockey, if they keep pushing fighting out of the game, the sport will continue to lose fans interest. more players and GM's want it to stay so what does that tell you? you need the fighters to have your back in a sport the has more weapons than any. a sport that uses non-stop skills, and action at every moment of the game... this game, respectfully, is one of the most athletic sports out of them all. if you disagree, then you do not watch it. It would be no different if they tried taking skates out of the game last year when one cut the neck and almost killed a player. This year in the OHL, a player died from his head hitting the ice after a fight. its the players CHOICE to fight, and to take the helmet off. more broken hands happen than death. i just dont see why the hell they think they have to change everything after so many years. but hey, go ahead and kill the sport...

**michael medeski** · 03-11-2009, 08:40 AM

part of the fun of watching is for the fights. i'm not a huge hockey fan, but it would be boring if there were no fights. it is not as fast paced as football, as far as scoring goes. it's more like the other football, soccer. it would be a shame if they get rid of fighting. the ice is slick and dangerous, so is that puck when it comes flying from a slapshot. maybe they should play hockey on a grass field with a soft inflatable ball. that would be nice and safe.

**Charles** · 03-11-2009, 08:47 AM

The only thing i will disagree with on your post micheal, it is much more fast paced than football, only IMO tho

It take so much energey, thats why they have so many line changes.... a good player only plays 20 minutes a game.... i love football too, and it obviesly has more hitting... but hockey is underrated... i'll watch with fighting or with no fighting, but alot of fans prolly wouldnt, you got that right!

**matt_s** · 03-11-2009, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by michael medeski

...it is not as fast paced as football, as far as scoring goes. it's more like the other football, soccer...

It's not as fast paced as football??? Even if you are considering just the scoring issues, I'm not sure how you can say that with a straight face...

In football you may get a score every 10 to 20 minutes (real time, not clock time) but you may have only see 6 plays in that entire time. How is that faster than a sport that has continuous play.

I think the only reason that football gets the nod on this is because of scoreboard inflation. A single score there can net the team up to 6 points.

The Wings lost (unfortunately) a game the other day that was 8 to 2 I think. That means that the puck went into the net 10 times. I can think of plenty football games where 10 touchdowns were not scored.

**LuciusBeebe** · 03-11-2009, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by michael medeski

part of the fun of watching is for the fights. i'm not a huge hockey fan, but it would be boring if there were no fights. it is not as fast paced as football, as far as scoring goes. it's more like the other football, soccer.

Actually, its just like football and soccer. Football inflates the score by making a goal worth more points. If a hockey score of 2-3 were in the NFL it would be 14-21.

My buddy is a big basketball fan, and this is why I am not a basketball fan. Basketball has too much scoring. In the NFL and NHL, a score is critical. In the NBA, well, I don't watch til the 4th quarter.

From the article:

"Fighting is one of the known causes of concussion, and may result in the related long-term complications," the panel's summary statement says. "Fighting can cause needless death."

More guys are concussed by hitting than by fighting. As for the whole death thing, well, that's just bunk. Nobody has died in the NHL for quite some time, and the last guy that did was from not wearing a helmet and hitting the ice with his head.

In other words, fighting is not any more dangerous in the game than hitting. One could argue that hitting is more, but they'll never consider removing hitting from the game.

Also from the article:

"The recommendations in this statement are designed to serve as a framework for future discussion, and to promote significant change concerning the prevention, recognition, and management of concussions in hockey," the statement says.

I didn't see any recommendations in the link, did you guys?

My personal take:

I like an actual fight. I hate it when two guys decide to see who's tougher and drop the gloves after the puck is dropped. Yeah, I know, nobody goes to the hot dog stand when there's a fight. But I like to see a fight that's actually a fight, not some staged measuring contest, nome sane?

If a guy goes for your knees, its time to drop 'em and bop 'em. Sometimes a two minute penalty for roughing does not cover it.

As far as the refs go, I'd like to see them step in and stop a thing when two guys are standing there, fists up, baiting each other to throw the first punch. A real fight doesn't go like that. That's just some barroom nonsense that disrupts the game and makes two people look stupid. I don't need that junk.