Ice Hockey: Right to Fight?
Is it irresponsible to allow fighting in ice hockey?
That’s the guts of an icy-hot debate about the continued role of brawling in hockey, sparked by the recent death of a 21-year-old Canadian player. Despite his amateur league’s rule forbidding the removal of helmets, the 6’2” defenseman’s head gear was off when his skull struck the ice during a fatal in-game fight.
The tragic incident has led to calls for an end to the culture of sanctioned fighting across all leagues, including the National Hockey League, where altercations have increased a reported 24% from last season. “This being the 21st century,” wrote one Canadian sports writer, “aren’t we supposed to be against violence in sports, especially hockey?”
Not necessarily, said the NHL commissioner, who called fighting “integral to the way the game is played.” Hockey is the only team sport in which one player who pummels another is not ejected from the game. The League will consider safety measures, the commissioner said, but won’t ban fighting outright because “fans enjoy that part of the game.”
According to a recent poll, a narrow majority of Canadians now believe that the NHL should ban fisticuffs. But of those polled who identified themselves as avid hockey fans, a whopping 68% said let the fists continue to fly.
“I find it ironic that there are two different laws for violence,” one man wrote to a local newspaper. “One law for those who play hockey, and the other one for the common folk on the street. One can assault another individual on the ice, but if the same situation were to occur on the street, those individuals would likely be charged with assault.”
“Whiney wimps,” retorted another. “I hear there are some non-violent chess matches or badminton games you can watch if you don’t have the stomach for the sport of hockey.”
Tell us what you think: Is allowing fighting in ice hockey irresponsible, or just part of the game? Is the problem just a sports issue, or a societal one as well?
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YOU ASK ANYBODY..
YOU ASK ANYBODY WHO HAS FOUGHT ON SKATES AT 1 TIME OR ANOTHER, AND THEY WILL TELL YOU THAT THEY KNOW THE RISKS! FROM MY VANTAGE POINT, MOST OF THESE GUYS AREN’T OUT TO HURT EACHOTHER INTENTIONLY..HAVEN’T YOU EVER SEEN 1 ENFORCER LET ANOTHER ENFORCER OFF THE HOOK BY NOT THROWING THAT LAST SHOT WHILE THE LINESMEN ARE IN?
U! | 4 months, 3 weeks ago
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Hockey Fights
Don Cherry knows the score.. We need fights in the game.. It draws in the crowds and also draws in excitement and revenue.Let us remember what our troops went through in WWI & WWII. Fghting in hockey is “ The Good Ship Lolipop” compared to what our veterens went through in the wars. I am very proud to be a Canadian
and Don reminds us.He is about the only man in Canada that makes any sense in the rat race world we live in now.
Mark Philip Rempel | 4 months, 3 weeks ago
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UFC
Just like boxing, MMA, K1 in Japan, Ice Hockey too is a game of fighting. I played it through college so I know. Every aspect of it is tough and the hits are a lot worse then getting punched in the face. Guys break a lot of bones and tear a lot ligaments from simple checks let alone little fists in the face…
Steve | 4 months, 1 week ago
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something to think about
mma,ufc are rising sports in the states. both have guys beating each other to a bloody mess for 15 min,in hockey a fights maybe last 1 min.football has guys hitting each other over and ever. nascar,one of the most useless sports ever, do you really think people go to see cars got around and around 700 times? of course not they go for crash’s. to say hockey incouranges violance is simply not true, in all aports when a brawl brakes out the fans go nutts why because we as people like violance,that will never change.i am not saying hockey fights agree with hockey fights, but when a fight does brake out do you see the crowd cheering and no one says “oh bathroom time”.
Thomas Page | 4 months, 1 week ago
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that's a new game
if the player don’t have a fight waht will the enter tainment be then so fighting should stay in hockey.
jashn singh gill | 3 months, 3 weeks ago
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FIGHT
THEY SHOULD FIGHT BECAUSE THATS THE ONLY REASON I WATCH HOCKEY SOMETIMES. YOU WOULD LOSS A LOT OF FANS LIKE ME.
KYLE RICHARD KAMRAD | 3 months, 3 weeks ago
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hokeyfights
i like fights
hokey fight | 3 months ago
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di
hockey foght is fun
hockey player for life | 3 months ago
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COACH
BANNING FIGHTING IN HOCKEY IS LIKE SAYING A HOMERUN IS NOW AN OUT IN BASEBALL OR NO PASSING IN FOOTBALL ITS PART OF THE GAME LEAVE EM ALONE.
tim keenan | 2 months, 2 weeks ago
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thumb sucking liberals
Jeeze Louise, you bloody bed wetting, tofu eating, prius driving, tie dye t-shirt sporting, bed wetting, cross dressing, left leaning commie deviates of dubious sexual orientation should maybe keep your ,Neville Chamberlain chicken #### mommies scaredy cat ideas about hockey fights to yourselves and tour stinking pastel wearing thumb sucking icky associates. yeah associates, cause punks like you havent got the yarbles to make let alone maintain an honest friendship.If two guys want to have a little dust up, then if you insist on watcingit tighten up your depends and get ready to be infuriated by those poor misguided dupes who with you and your pukey comrades , could be made useful robots in your boring flatline corporate driven slow march to perdition. take your pastel tinted yogurt cups and make a mobile for a starving financial investment swindler, if your in need of a cause. Cheerio james
james allen bugg | 1 month, 3 weeks ago
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