The Players' Tribune: Why We Fight by Brandon Prust

[sandysan]

Aren't the NHL doing that with the headshots already? Don't you think that Stevens hits Lindros and Kariya would be severely punished today?

no checking, and pucks sticks are still worse for player safety than fights.

but let me guess, in the name of player safety, all those are okie dokey because YOU think that, unlike fighting, they are integral parts of the NHL game.

yawn!

 

[CH25]

Aren't the NHL doing that with the headshots already? Don't you think that Stevens hits Lindros and Kariya would be severely punished today?

You think the refs or the league are capable of stopping headshots/cheap shots ?
Watch this and tell how pieces of **** like Neal are allowed to run free and cheap shot anyone without getting any punishment by the refs. Also listen to what the commentators say.

 

[WaltWhitman]

no checking, and pucks sticks are still worse for player safety than fights.

but let me guess, in the name of player safety, all those are okie dokey because YOU think that, unlike fighting, they are integral parts of the NHL game.

You're starting to understand!

 

[sandysan]

You think the refs or the league are capable of stopping headshots/cheap shots ?
Watch this and tell how pieces of **** like Neal are allowed to run free and cheap shot anyone without getting any punishment by the refs. Also listen to what the commentators say.

hey it works for rugby, baseball, football, basketball, nascar ( not really but let's just pretend it does for the sake of argument)

 

[CH25]

hey it works for rugby, baseball, football, basketball, nascar ( not really but let's just pretend it does for the sake of argument)

Imagine the same scenario (neal running around cheap shotting everyone) but instead fighting is banned. How do you think the players would feel about not being able to retaliate watching the refs do nothing.

 

[Analyzer*]

Aren't the NHL doing that with the headshots already? Don't you think that Stevens hits Lindros and Kariya would be severely punished today?

Getting fined 2000 dollar fine is punishment ?

2 game suspension is punishment ?

8 games is punishment ?

If you, or anyone else want fighting gone because it's dangerous and causes injury, then you might as well be on the bandwagon to have hitting removed.

Not sure if you're truly on the ban fighting topic, or not. Didn't read the entire thread and not trying to call you out, or anything as the posts I did skim seem to be in the same, or similar context.

 

[Muston Atthews]

Aren't the NHL doing that with the headshots already? Don't you think that Stevens hits Lindros and Kariya would be severely punished today?

Hits not to the head cause way more concussions per year than fighting.

 

[WaltWhitman]

Imagine the same scenario (neal running around cheap shotting everyone) but instead fighting is banned. How do you think the players would feel about not being able to retaliate watching the refs do nothing.

I thought Neal was supposed to be too scared of fighting to do something like that in the first place.

Do we need something more archaic to settle disputes? How about dueling with pistols????

 

[newfy]

This north american perspective is tiresome. You do know there are more than 4 sports in the world, right? There aren't fighting in Handball, Rugby, Cricket either, even though they are at least at the same level of physicality as Basketball, (american) Football and Baseball respectively.

The only sport you named that is a full contact sport out of that grouping is Rugby and they brawl in rugby. Cricket and handball dont compare to football. Having people who have never played North American hockey think they know how the game should be fixed and changed is growing tiresome to me.

99% of NHL players believe fighting has a place in hockey. Hockey has had fighting since it was created. I've already said why I dont think theres fighting in football because thats the way I felt when i played it. Why fight when you can chop a guy at the knees or light him up legally the very next play? It would be dumb to fight. On top of that, hitting is the main goal in football for basically everyone on the field except two or 3 players. Hockey it is a means to an end but if you abuse that opportunity players wont take kindly to it.

That clip of Neal running around is a prime example. Lets say that fight never happens and all of the players stay pissed off at each other, what happens next in your fantasy world? The refs call some penalties and the rest of the players dont care that Giroux had his head taken off? In my world where I actually played hockey, players would start running around at the other team or start swinging their sticks like idiots.

I would rather watch 2 grown men decide to fight than watch a player who doesnt want to be involved in the extra curriculars get knocked in the chin with a late hit or a dirty slash because the other team is frustrated. Too each their own I guess but I prefer things to get settled face to face and for people to face their own consequences. You seem like the type that either likes seeing players not involved get hurt because of idiots on their team, or that livesin a fantasy world where you think these grown men full of testosterone wont get mad at each other on the ice.

 

[TheSituation]

The only sport you named that is a full contact sport out of that grouping is Rugby and they brawl in rugby. Cricket and handball dont compare to football. Having people who have never played North American hockey think they know how the game should be fixed and changed is growing tiresome to me.

99% of NHL players believe fighting has a place in hockey. Hockey has had fighting since it was created. I've already said why I dont think theres fighting in football because thats the way I felt when i played it. Why fight when you can chop a guy at the knees or light him up legally the very next play? It would be dumb to fight. On top of that, hitting is the main goal in football for basically everyone on the field except two or 3 players. Hockey it is a means to an end but if you abuse that opportunity players wont take kindly to it.

That clip of Neal running around is a prime example. Lets say that fight never happens and all of the players stay pissed off at each other, what happens next in your fantasy world? The refs call some penalties and the rest of the players dont care that Giroux had his head taken off? In my world where I actually played hockey, players would start running around at the other team or start swinging their sticks like idiots.

I would rather watch 2 grown men decide to fight than watch a player who doesnt want to be involved in the extra curriculars get knocked in the chin with a late hit or a dirty slash because the other team is frustrated. Too each their own I guess but I prefer things to get settled face to face and for people to face their own consequences. You seem like the type that either likes seeing players not involved get hurt because of idiots on their team, or that livesin a fantasy world where you think these grown men full of testosterone wont get mad at each other on the ice.

So since fighting exists shouldn't Neal be deterred from take liberties? Fighting has proven to be a terrible deterrent. Last time I checked Matt Cooke got hist clocked cleaned by Evander Kane, a few years ago. And he hasn't changed. The only way he actually resembled a clean player was when Lemieux had a chat with him and he realized the team wasn't going to tolerate it any longer.

http://regressing.deadspin.com/the-enforcer-fallacy-hockeys-fighting-specialists-don-1442618145

 

[CanadienShark]

Man does Prust bother me at times (not to sound mean, but he just comes across as unintelligent), but I really enjoyed this read. His insight was great, and it seemed like a really well thought out piece, regardless of whether or not he wrote it entirely himself. I've gained a little more respect for the guy from this, even though I knew he was a tough SOB who would take a bullet for a teammate, friend or family member.

 

[CanadienShark]

Great read, I'm a big fan of these articles so far

These player's tribune articles are great.

This has to be one of the most underrated "fan tributes" that I've seen. People should be talking about these more. Haven't read one yet that isn't great.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Man does Prust bother me at times (not to sound mean, but he just comes across as unintelligent), but I really enjoyed this read. His insight was great, and it seemed like a really well thought out piece, regardless of whether or not he wrote it entirely himself. I've gained a little more respect for the guy from this, even though I knew he was a tough SOB who would take a bullet for a teammate, friend or family member.

Insight?

Again

"You need people like me to protect you from people like me" is not insight, it's ****ing dumb

 

[Random Forest]

Insight?

Again

"You need people like me to protect you from people like me" is not insight, it's ****ing dumb

Seriously. I get that he's a hockey player, but this "article" wasn't terribly well written, and, worse, it was logically incoherent.

It was sincere, and he certainly meant well by it, but anyone calling this a good piece is out of it whether you're pro or anti-fighting.

Much better arguments for fighting can be made than what Prust put forth. His premise is one gigantic contradiction.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

what twisted logic ? he asked for a dance partner and none was found. He's not a dangly dangles kind of guy. He WANTS to make his team better. Failing to find a guy willing to oblige he decides he's going to hit the next guy he sees as hard as he can. it happens to be stefan and it ends up being a little late.

so if brandon prust, aware of his talents and limitations, finds no situation in which he can help the team, he should just tell the coach, don't put me out there because they don't want anything to do with me, I'll just sit on the bench and open the door.

or he can, alterntively, do things that he is exclusively positioned to do on the habs. if the hit on stefan is a little earlier that EXACTLY what you want a guy like prust to do. If its clean and stefan meets the same fate, if its not either way Prust is willing to face the consequences of his action. Players like cooke and moore never are ( or rarely are in cooke's case)

He says his role as a fighter is to deter or retaliate against other teams to prevent them from taking liberties with his own team. Then he explains the hit on Stepan (that's with a "p") was a late hit and he did it because nobody would fight.

To sum it up again (as others already have numerous times) - I'm here to stop you from doing bad things to my team, and if you don't play by my code I'm going to do bad things to your team. I'm going to do the same things that other teams are supposed to refrain from if I do my job right. If you can't figure out the contradiction and hypocrisy in that, then I bet you can't spell Stepan right either...

 

[MtlPenFan]

When has Prust ever deterred anyone from doing anything?

Regardless, most of that was drivel, and would have been drivel no matter who wrote it.

 

[ChiGuySez]

So thats what they call Kronwall.

 

[CanadienShark]

Insight?

Again

"You need people like me to protect you from people like me" is not insight, it's ****ing dumb

No, I simply appreciate the perspective of a person who, you know, plays the game were discussing. It's undeniably a biased perspective, but it's not meaningless. You may scoff, but that's an ignorant approach.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Why not? You injure someone to set the tone of the game and keep the opposing team on their heels. I'm not in favour of illegal hits that result in injuries, but if a legal hit can result in an injury (mostly in the playoffs) then I don't mind it the least bit. It's a violent sport, you don't like hard hits or injuries, watch a different sport

Again...somebody trying to pretend that someone that can differentiate between the right and wrong, somehow can't handle the wrong. I live every day dealing with wrong stuff, to put it generally. I'd say that helps me to have a pretty good grasp of it when I see it.

So injuring someone to set the tone is supposed to make the other team scared? Maybe some players do think that, but what we usually see is a Ottawa/Montreal series that turns into a dirt fest with players trying to injure every other shift. Regardless, I fully acknowledge the value of hitting and fighting, but clearly some players and some incidents are dirty, malicious, and totally unacceptable for the game. Prust's hit on Stepan doesn't quite fit the example of a terrible incident (late but not the worst looking intent), but the logic he uses in the article is sooo off-base and bass-ackwards that he deserves to be called out for it. I'm sure other players have the same mentality at times or on a regular basis. Doesn't mean they should be banned from the game unless they make repeated hits like Cooke, but they still deserve to be called out when they screw up or say stupid things like Rinaldo after his hit on Letang.

 

[MtlPenFan]

"We can settle it a certain way. Luckily, I got my fight that night. I had to let the league know you can’t take runs at our best players."

Guys are taking runs at Price all the time.

 

[Malreg]

99% of NHL players believe fighting has a place in hockey

And until that changes, fighting is going nowhere... Doesn't the NHLPA have to approve any rule changes?

 

[FrontierPsyCHiatrist*]

Guys are taking runs at Price all the time.

Bullcrap

 

[TheTwelfth]

The only sport you named that is a full contact sport out of that grouping is Rugby and they brawl in rugby. Cricket and handball dont compare to football. Having people who have never played North American hockey think they know how the game should be fixed and changed is growing tiresome to me.

99% of NHL players believe fighting has a place in hockey. Hockey has had fighting since it was created. I've already said why I dont think theres fighting in football because thats the way I felt when i played it. Why fight when you can chop a guy at the knees or light him up legally the very next play? It would be dumb to fight. On top of that, hitting is the main goal in football for basically everyone on the field except two or 3 players. Hockey it is a means to an end but if you abuse that opportunity players wont take kindly to it.

That clip of Neal running around is a prime example. Lets say that fight never happens and all of the players stay pissed off at each other, what happens next in your fantasy world? The refs call some penalties and the rest of the players dont care that Giroux had his head taken off? In my world where I actually played hockey, players would start running around at the other team or start swinging their sticks like idiots.

I would rather watch 2 grown men decide to fight than watch a player who doesnt want to be involved in the extra curriculars get knocked in the chin with a late hit or a dirty slash because the other team is frustrated. Too each their own I guess but I prefer things to get settled face to face and for people to face their own consequences. You seem like the type that either likes seeing players not involved get hurt because of idiots on their team, or that livesin a fantasy world where you think these grown men full of testosterone wont get mad at each other on the ice.

Handball is much more of a contact sport than basketball, and as I wrote my post, it was obvious with high school reading comprehension that the comparisons were between Football - Rugby, Basketball - Handball, Baseball - Cricket.

You can hit someone in ice hockey just as well as in football. As others pointed out, Neal goes around and does his antics despite fighting being in the game. What the hell does fighting deter? At the same time, this never happens in the Olympics or WHC, where players know there is no (realistic) chance of an opponent dropping their gloves against them.

For the record, I played Am. Football and Ice Hockey as well, but I don't think that has anything to do with the argument at hand.

Oh, and finally the 99% of players thing is bullcrap. Maybe 99% of the Canadian players, but that in itself constitutes ~48% of the players in the league. For the 99% to be accurate there would have to be less than 7 players in the whole league that disapproves of fighting. I'd venture I could find more than seven in any given European Olympic squad.

 

[Trottier]

Prust is awesome

Not sure I agree that he is awesome, but I thank God his type exist in the NHL.

The disconnect between what takes place on the ice and some fans off it is fascinating.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

Keep fighting in and a well written confession