USA Hockey and Hockey Canada’s conversations and discussions about the fighting rule have escalated in the last few weeks, bringing the subject to the forefront of mainstream media across both countries.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League officially banned fighting last week. The league’s new rules state anyone engaged in a fight will be ejected from the game. Any player “found to have instigated the fight” will get an automatic one-game suspension. The player “declared to be the aggressor during the fight” will receive a minimum two-game automatic suspension. Players involved in multiple scuffles in a season will start receiving an automatic suspension beginning with their second fight, in addition to the other sanctions.
The Western Hockey League has rules against staged fights and the Ontario Hockey League suspends players who fight too often.
The Q’s take is what it is, weak. What more can be expected from Canada’s most liberal province? Maybe for an encore they will outlaw heterosexual male Caucasians from the province.
We don’t see either of those changes happening in the OHL or WHL.
But before we get any deeper into that subject, let’s look at the big picture. Should we force every player in the game to utilize a full face mask? Are missing teeth, stitches, eye injuries, and broken facial bones any less important than head injuries that result from fighting?
These injuries happen from high sticks, pucks, and elbows. Should we dull all skates to reduce the risk of severe cuts? There has been many incidents when a player was severely cut by a skate blade, so we should make sure they are dull in order to reduce that risk. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it, but where will all the demands stop?
Brain injuries are at the forefront of these discussions and coming up with reasonable ways to prevent them for the players safety should always be our focus.
The NHL have done a great job educating players on exactly what are acceptable hits and handing out discipline to players when deemed necessary. The fundamentals of the game cannot change, skating, stick handling, passing, shooting, checking, and most import respect for the game.
Should we make changes to the fighting rules in hockey? Absolutely. At which levels and exactly what changes? Those are the million dollar questions. But the elimination of it all together, is that really the best solution?
I’d like to see some hard facts. What is the real number of concussions that occur from fighting? What can we do to make sure we eliminate unnecessary injuries that result from fighting?
What about asking the linesmen step in before the traditional take down occurs? Doing so would prevent much of the risk associated with a player’s head bouncing off the ice. What if we stop the fight immediately if a player’s helmet comes off or give game suspensions to players who fight more than once in a game. There are solutions out there other than saying to just eliminate the fighting element from the game.
Everyone has an opinion and everyone is passionate about what is important to them, so we tend to look for the extremes instead of reasonable solutions. Again we should always be looking to improve the game, and player safety, as the game evolves.
Let’s talk about auto racing for a moment. Fans go to a race to watch as these cars zoom around at speeds which would cause most of us to wet our pants if in the car. We know accidents happen in races, and because of that intensity, we sit on the edge of our seats watching as the favorite driver squeaks by without hitting the wall or banging into another car. This is called entertainment.
Even though hockey is considered a sport, the spectators still want to be entertained. Owners often can be heard saying, “I am not in the hockey business I am in the entertainment business.” The owners that catch on to this thought are often the most successful.
Hockey is a business, and it needs fans to be entertained in order to keep them emotionally involved. Players at the professional level get paid to not only play the game but to also entertain the fans with the great goals, the dangling through players, the hard hits, and even the occasional fight.
We are already experiencing a “non-sanctioned” problem on this continent and fighting could be THE issue that sprouts even more rogue leagues into existence should the sanctioning bodies move to eliminate fighting all together.
There’s a really good reason the Federal Prospects Hockey League has managed to hang around for more than a dozen years…and it’s not the high skill level of the play every night. Fighting is entertaining.
We need to remember the most important fundamental aspect of the game, RESPECT. When incidents occur on the ice that take away from that fundamental value, players need the ability to police themselves by letting the opposing players know they have crossed the line.
If we take fighting out of the game, we put every player onto the ice with a weapon in his hand. The following year we will be talking about full cages and masks because of the drastic increase in eye injuries, and broken facial bones, from players using their sticks to punish other players. Let’s be realistic and find a reasonable solution.
A fourth official in the seats could eliminate 90% of the behind the play baloney with the ability to utilize wireless communication with the on-ice crew. Considering that most fights occur as a result of an un-blown whistle, the fourth official would be instrumental in reducing the number of instances.
Line brawls would instantly be eliminated when automatic suspensions for both coaches are put into place when three or more fights are occurring at one time.
I have to believe that a fourth official in the seats rule would seriously enhance the game while promoting discipline, maturity, and the ability to capitalize on the reward of additional power-play opportunities.
Yes, sensible ideas that make much more sense than simply trying to eliminate a core element of the game.
Stephen Heisler 