There's a lot of pressure right now to make junior hockey ''safer'' , it is what it is. I expect it to go much more strict in the next couple years.
They know they are on weak legal ground. Can a 16 year old legally consent to fighting a 20 year old bruiser who outweighs him 50 pounds? The various leagues try to say fighting isn’t allowed so they aren’t responsible, but if fighting is endemic and penalties offset they don’t have much of an argument. The NCAA really tries to stop fighting junior/AHL/NHL clearly want fighting and believe it sells tickets.
If they want fighting without responsibility for the injuries I expect they need 3 things:
age minimums, weight classes, and consent. As with sex I doubt under 18s can legally consent to doing it with adults. Lots of organizations make money from fighting but everyone involved knows who and when they will fight, and they know their opponent will weigh about the same. No other organization has guys getting concussed by someone 40 pounds heavier.
I’m not much for fighting, concussions suck, and with the various issues I would never encourage anyone to play junior, but the orgs involved aren’t making changes because they have gone soft. They are worried they will be sued out of existence.
I’m not saying leagues have to make hockey safe. It’s a contact sport and there will always be injuries. No question players sign up for that. I know a guy who went through junior hockey unscathed then slipped on sidewalk ice walking to practice and ended his career. Lots of things aren’t safe. Fighting someone way bigger is unsafe enough MMA fighters snd boxers won’t do it. Fighting someone who knows how to fight when you don’t is similar.
Question is whether profiting from obvious hypocrisy will fly in court. Junior isn’t a big money league, even some small awards could shut them down. We’ll see if they survive the hazing complaints.
