The Players' Tribune: Why We Fight by Brandon Prust

[Jacoby4HOF66]

Ignoring whether fighting is necessary in hockey for a second, does anyone else find like 95% of the fights to be incredibly boring? I usually just look at my phone. You get the occasional non-scripted fight between a couple of stars that can be interesting. But the majority of fights in hockey just put me to sleep.

I am with you. Most fights its 2 guys holding each other up so they don't slip and fall.

 

[WaltWhitman]

Ignoring whether fighting is necessary in hockey for a second, does anyone else find like 95% of the fights to be incredibly boring? I usually just look at my phone. You get the occasional non-scripted fight between a couple of stars that can be interesting. But the majority of fights in hockey just put me to sleep.

I am with you. Most fights its 2 guys holding each other up so they don't slip and fall.

I'm with both of you.

It's not hockey. It's not fighting. I don't know what it is.

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

I'm with both of you.

It's not hockey. It's not fighting. I don't know what it is.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good hockey fight, but they are rare these days.

 

[NoQuitInNewMexico]

I actually think there's less scripted nonsense fights than there used to be, there's less guys who are carried along on rosters just for fighting, and the scarcity makes fighting more entertaining when it does happen.

Of course a lot of the fights are sloppy hug wars but it's a deceptively difficult thing to do well.

 

[Russian Factor]

Guy Who Fights says that, actually, fighting is very good and important,

 

[CanadienShark]

The purity of Prust's motives must not be called into question.

Thank God he stepped up and broke Stepan's jaw there with that dangerous hit. Otherwise someone could have gotten seriously hurt.

Does your sarcasm help your lack of argument? Nope. How about instead of being like that, you actually READ what he said. He said he knew this hit was late, but I didn't go out there with the intent to injure a good friend of his (or anyone).

 

[Doshell Propivo]

first round fights are relatively common ( think pens flyers 2 years ago) As the stakes get higher, the fights get lower but they still occur ( prust tuned up dorsett pretty good in the ECF).

scoring also, generally drops in the playoffs as do power plays. Are these two things not important because they decrease as the stakes get higher?

as to what would happen if " they took fighting out of the game completely" ? I'm glad we won't ever have to find out.

Scoring decreases by about 7% from the regular season to the playoffs.

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2012/...yoffs-kings-coyotes-defense-scoring-shutouts/

I don't have the stats on fights but obviously it decreases by way more than 7% in the post season.

Why are you so sure we won't ever find out? Not out of the realm of possibility that it will happen in our lifetime. As a matter of fact, I'd say it's likely. Given the attention being paid to concussions these days and the sheer irrelevance of fighting in today's game, I can see them eliminating it.

 

[Random Forest]

Does your sarcasm help your lack of argument? Nope. How about instead of being like that, you actually READ what he said. He said he knew this hit was late, but I didn't go out there with the intent to injure a good friend of his (or anyone).

Okay? He knew the hit was late and he made it anyway. And yet in the same breath says that players like him keep the game clean from these types of hits. Reconcile that. Please.

 

[c-carp]

Ignoring whether fighting is necessary in hockey for a second, does anyone else find like 95% of the fights to be incredibly boring? I usually just look at my phone. You get the occasional non-scripted fight between a couple of stars that can be interesting. But the majority of fights in hockey just put me to sleep.

I am the exact opposite, I miss the game that existed when I started watching and really miss the old school heavyweight fight

 

[c-carp]

Don't get me wrong, I love a good hockey fight, but they are rare these days.

I can't recall a good heavyweight tilt this yr

 

[Frenchy]

The thought of the NHL eliminating fighting actually disgusts me.

me too , i fear that if you get rid of fighting , the cheapshot artist like Cooke , Maxim Lapierre and others like them , will be able to do what ever they want on the ice .

People seems to forget that having a " fighter " on your team will cool off the temper of those guys i talked about in my introduction . They know that if they do something that they are not soppose to do that there will be a consequence to their action.

 

[Eisen]

Does your sarcasm help your lack of argument? Nope. How about instead of being like that, you actually READ what he said. He said he knew this hit was late, but I didn't go out there with the intent to injure a good friend of his (or anyone).

He said he wanted to hit him hard. And he knew the hit was late. Late means Stepan was unsuspecting and in a vulnerable position to boot. That this could lead to injury is hardly surprising.

 

[Eisen]

me too , i fear that if you get rid of fighting , the cheapshot artist like Cooke , Maxim Lapierre and others like them , will be able to do what ever they want on the ice .

People seems to forget that having a " fighter " on your team will cool off the temper of those guys i talked about in my introduction . They know that if they do something that they are not soppose to do that there will be a consequence to their action.

I don't get that. How much worse could Cooke be if there is not fighter around to stop him? And what stops Cooke from turtling? The fighter, too?

 

[Bi Coastal Bawse*]

Would have been better if an actually good fighter wrote an article and not someone who sucks at it.

 

[WaltWhitman]

I don't get that. How much worse could Cooke be if there is not fighter around to stop him? And what stops Cooke from turtling? The fighter, too?

No kidding...




Do some people not know about the department of player safety? Suspensions? Fines? Rules? The Magna Carta? Hammurabi's code?

 

[TheSituation]

me too , i fear that if you get rid of fighting , the cheapshot artist like Cooke , Maxim Lapierre and others like them , will be able to do what ever they want on the ice .

People seems to forget that having a " fighter " on your team will cool off the temper of those guys i talked about in my introduction . They know that if they do something that they are not soppose to do that there will be a consequence to their action.

LOL, as if fights are actual deterrents. Didn't Evander Kane clean Matt Cooke's clock? He got KO'd for christ's sake and not a damn thing changed.

 

[TrustyPatches*]

No kidding...




Do some people not know about the department of player safety? Suspensions? Fines? Rules? The Magna Carta? Hammurabi's code?

I guess you don't know about the wheel of justice?

 

[Sleepy]

I guess you don't know about the wheel of justice?

Supplemental discipline was a joke under Campbell, but Shanahan was very effective. This new regime is too early to call, but so far it's still much more effective than previously.

 

[TrustyPatches*]

Supplemental discipline was a joke under Campbell, but Shanahan was very effective. This new regime is too early to call, but so far it's still much more effective than previously.

No you are totally right under Shanahan everyone was subject to the same discipline regardless of team or standing with the league/fans.

 

[CanadienShark]

Okay? He knew the hit was late and he made it anyway. And yet in the same breath says that players like him keep the game clean from these types of hits. Reconcile that. Please.

A late hit isn't necessarily dangerous. It was an unfortunate situation, which can happen just as easily with a non-late hit.

 

[CanadienShark]

He said he wanted to hit him hard. And he knew the hit was late. Late means Stepan was unsuspecting and in a vulnerable position to boot. That this could lead to injury is hardly surprising.

Late does not necessitate a vulnerable position. Does it say whether he knew the hit was late prior to committing to it, or after he'd made the hit? Because those are two very different situations.

 

[Eisen]

Late does not necessitate a vulnerable position. Does it say whether he knew the hit was late prior to committing to it, or after he'd made the hit? Because those are two very different situations.

Sorry I forgot the comma. You know what I mean. But I'm glad you get your silly laughs.

 

[ColeJ]

Okay? He knew the hit was late and he made it anyway. And yet in the same breath says that players like him keep the game clean from these types of hits. Reconcile that. Please.

you've been asking for reconciliation on this for about 14 pages now, so i'll do my best to explain it the way i understand it...

Prust's role is to protect the players on the Montreal Canadiens, and spark the team when he feels they need it. He feels that the best ways for him to do both of those things are violence and threats of violence.

You seem hung up on the concept of enforcers eliminating dirty hits from the sport. That isn't the case. They don't care about eliminating violence. They care about eliminating violence AGAINST THEIR TEAM. He doesn't want to "keep the game clean," as you say. He cares about keeping his teammates safe, and sparking his team emotionally with fights and hits.

His point was that fighting gives people an outlet other than throwing dangerous hits. He tried to find a partner, couldn't, and ended up throwing a dangerous hit. That isn't hypocritical. It sort of reinforces his point.

It also isn't hypocritical for him to throw a dirty hit when his job is to protect his team from dirty hits, in my eyes. These players are paid to look out for their team, and do what it takes to make their teams win. Players aren't raised from mites to the NHL with the mindset of nonviolent resistance and looking out for the greater good. In many ways, hockey is survival of the fittest. That involves violence that is both condoned and penalized, weighing the punishments with the potential benefits to your team.

You'd have to fundamentally change the entire culture of hockey to change the dynamic to what you want it to be. Simply outlawing fighting isn't going to fix it.

But then again, I don't think it needs to be fixed. I thoroughly enjoy a good fight between two willing combatants. I didn't like seeing Emery jump Holtby, but I loved seeing Potvin and Hextall go at it. Harsher penalties for non-consensual fights would be fine by me, but letting two guys rip into each other's faces if they both feel like it is entertaining and a lot more respectable than the other sports (like the NFL and NBA where players designate themselves as hardened tough warriors, get in each other's face, and act like they're ready to go, but never have to put their money where their mouths are.)

 

[mandiblesofdoom]

Late does not necessitate a vulnerable position. Does it say whether he knew the hit was late prior to committing to it, or after he'd made the hit? Because those are two very different situations.

Stepan rightly did not expect to get hit at that point. If he were actually carrying the puck (if it was NOT a late hit), Stepan would have accounted for Prust and would not have left himself open for the hit.

Late hits are absolutely hits on vulnerable, unsuspecting players.

And besides being late, this hit was too high. It was the essence of a dirty play, which makes Prust quite the hypocrite.

 

[Big Phil]

The people that don't play the game are never going to understand what it's like. Fighting is there as a release, as a means of protection, as a possible deterrent, to settle a score, to lift your team. It has its purpose. If you don't like it fine, not everyone like everything to do with hockey.