Fighting has to go

[Albatros]

Hooking, Cross-checking, and fighting are accepted and expected parts of the game (which result in penalties). Nobody gets suspended and or expelled from the league due to a minor penalty.... Nor does any willing participant in a fight. Your back in the game after a short breather by yourself in the box.

Thats hockey.

Is that what you want to say to the children of players that died or otherwise lost their health because of repeated head trauma?

 

[PuckThumper11]

A simple Google search such as "hockey players brain damage" will bring up many entry points to the published literature. If you peruse them carefully, you'll find several articles for you to calculate an answer to you question.

So you don't know.

 

[VVP]

Fighting is bad and it does make the game of hockey worse than it should be. Best hockey at the Olympics has zero fighting and it is beautiful.

 

[VVP]

Lol what?

Hockey fans who understand the game dont even ask if fighting needs to go - because they understand why its a part of the game and needed.

Staged fights are basically a thing of the past, and most agreed that it was good for the game. But under no circumstances can guys be allowed to play cheap hockey with total impunity either - will never happen.

This is a sophisticated urban legend that is designed to keep fighting in the game. In addition to the fact it justifies the fighting it also let's officiating off the hook not to call the game by the book. That is why you see late hits, cross checks, slashes, punches in the face go unnoticed. We know way too much about head trauma and how many players have damaged brains after their careers are over and it doesn't only ap p ly to the NHL, the game suffers all the way down to junior hockey.

 

[Mido]

They have to get the officiating right before it's even discussed.

 

[IDuck]

i dont understand why people cant be honest anymore......if the argument is that fighting causes brain damage and should be banned, wait until you find out about hitting..... just SAY you dont like fighting and give the reason you dont like it, stop pretending you care about players well-being and look the other way on the thing that puts all players at risk.... its everything thats wrong right now, instead of saying that people know the risk and decide to still play, we want to change things for some "reason" while not even fixing said "reason's"....i dont really care one way or the other although i still think it is needed in the game and i would say taking it out could lead to more brain injury issues.....so again, follow your own logic through instead of saying " i care about players well-being".

 

[txpd]

Most of the fights there are today the players involved would be willing to take a game suspension to stick up for a teammate. When a player that fights a lot fights 4 times a season. Its a price they would pay. The fights that need to be in the NHL will remain in the NHL.

 

[Juicy Pop]

Is that what you want to say to the children of players that died or otherwise lost their health because of repeated head trauma?

Repeated head trauma isn't going away unless you make checking illegal. If you're going to do that then you might as well close up shop.

 

[NJDevilsFan21]

I'm kind of at the point of not caring whether it stays or goes. Fighting hasn't represented what it did back in the 80s or 90s. Now you mostly get two goons who might get 3 minutes of ice time squaring up, and for what? It's a waste of a roster spot. The enforcer in the modern NHL is dead.

 

[Devils090]

No, people who don’t like fighting need to stop crying

 

[Sheppy]

Fighting is bad and it does make the game of hockey worse than it should be. Best hockey at the Olympics has zero fighting and it is beautiful.

Ahhh, star players playing against star players, most of which don't really play a rugged style. Unfortunately, NHL teams aren't really built like team Canada vs Team USA.

I never really get this comparison.

 

[TooManyHumans]

The difference between fighting and hitting is that fighting is simply not a necessary part of the game. Hitting is.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Is that what you want to say to the children of players that died or otherwise lost their health because of repeated head trauma?

If they were consenting adults you might tell their children that their parent made a decision. If they were adults consenting to do it on a repeated basis, odds are you might tell their children they weren't talented enough to make it on skill and again, made a decision of money over health. Life is wrought with decisions but also with personal responsibility for choices. If your crusade is truly head trauma, the volume is way exceeded by things other than fighting.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

The difference between fighting and hitting is that fighting is simply not a necessary part of the game. Hitting is.

How is hitting necessary?

 

[TooManyHumans]

How is hitting necessary?

Well it would seriously change the sport if they took out hitting in a way that would not happen if there were no fighting. But I agree that a reasonable form of hockey could be played without hitting. The difference from what we have now would simply be a lot more noticeable if hitting were removed than if fighting were.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

How is hitting necessary?

Body checking is a method in which to separate a player from the puck. This can be done in several ways, with varying degrees of severity in the impact.

Yes, no-contact leagues exist, but those are generally either youth sports or adult leagues in which extenuating circumstances exist.

I won't speak to women's hockey, as I don't know the specific rationale for why they do not allow it.

 

[Panthaz89]

This thread is funny people pretending the majority don't want fighting in the game because they don't want it. Saying true NFL fans don't care about fighting and stuff is hilarious. I've seen people stop or watch considerably less hockey since fighting is rare nowadays no ones coming into watch because fighting is becoming a rarity lmao.

 

[GrizzGreen]

wrong

 

[MartyOwns]

This thread is funny people pretending the majority don't want fighting in the game because they don't want it. Saying true NFL fans don't care about fighting and stuff is hilarious. I've seen people stop or watch considerably less hockey since fighting is rare nowadays no ones coming into watch because fighting is becoming a rarity lmao.

what does the majority have to do with anything? maybe the majority of fans would like to make helmets optional again, or make hits targeting the head legal again, who gives a shit?

 

[NHL Review]

This thread is funny people pretending the majority don't want fighting in the game because they don't want it. Saying true NFL fans don't care about fighting and stuff is hilarious. I've seen people stop or watch considerably less hockey since fighting is rare nowadays no ones coming into watch because fighting is becoming a rarity lmao.

You’re entitled to your opinions but not your facts. Ratings have consistently gone up and fighting has gone down. Less fighting isn’t scaring people away from hockey. Casuals may tune in but they don’t stay. I know plenty that fit that too.

Not to mention WSH/NYR ratings were a lot lower than expected last season

 

[NHL Review]

what does the majority have to do with anything? maybe the majority of fans would like to make helmets optional again, or make hits targeting the head legal again, who gives a shit?

There is also this too which I 100% agree with. If we based all our decisions on public opinion we would be even worse off for a society. I’m sure majority would make speeding legal too

 

[kabidjan18]

The actual act of fighting in hockey rarely leads to brain injuries. Hockey fights are very sloppy, most fights last less than 30 seconds and because they're grabbing each other's shoulders, more often than not, not a single punch lands cleanly. Slipping and falling, pushing each other to ice, contact with the ground usually is what causes brain injuries. Even in the given example. So if the idea is to combat brain injury, taking fighting away doesn't work to that end basically at all.

I'd venture that the majority of concussions in hockey aren't from fighting or even checking but incidental collisions and/or trip and falls. I'm a big MMA/wrestling fan. I've long been very critical of boxing for the reason that I think it's a practically useless sport that promotes brain injury. Hockey fights are not "bare-knuckle boxing", they are two guys clinching until one of them is able to drag the other down. There is some inherent risk in taking someone down on ice but incidents like the aforementioned are freak accidents. And hockey is, inevitably, full of those.

 

[VVP]

Ahhh, star players playing against star players, most of which don't really play a rugged style. Unfortunately, NHL teams aren't really built like team Canada vs Team USA.

I never really get this comparison.

Wrong. Ok, forget Olympics. Think of IIHF tournaments at all levels. U-20, U-18, men's Group A, Group B. Virtually no fighting and the game is great. You don't need to have superstars in order to enjoy a wonderful game of hockey without fights. Fighting is a really just a North American thing that is simply because Americans love violence. It is kind of like phony WWE wrestling, stupid thing that nobody outside of North America cares about. If it was gone nobody would suffer.

 

[_habsfan9]

just make the ice softer!!

 

[drktmplr12]

The Last Gladiators