Fisticuffs Fly In NHL… (An Opinion Piece)

 

21 year old Don Sanderson.

Hockey in Canada has almost a religious following for some teams. Since its inception it has captivated hearts and minds and filled bars and livingrooms. Whether on the barstool or chesterfield/couch, beer in hand and a jersey for warmth until that playoff beard grows in we follow each respective home team. Hockey has had highs and lows, sparking debate to change the game from the smallest rules to how it will be played in future. However, the Cauckistan is dedicated to preserving one aspect of the game which has come under fire as of late. Fighting in the NHL is being scrutinized after the passing of twenty-one year old Don Sanderson of the Whitby Dunlops.

 The anti-fighting camp and the defenders of hockey’s status quo have entrenched themselves with their ideologies on the matter, with the anti-fighting camp attacking through the media… any and all media. Well I may not play hockey but I am a follower of the league and have watched many of the games where these unfortunate incidents have occurred and can affirm that fighting and hockey shouldn’t be separated, for now at least.

While the anti-fighting camp rely on incidents as the Marty McSorely clubbing to the temple of Donald Brashear, Todd Bertuzzi punching Steve Moore from behind, a peewee brawl between eight-year olds and this latest case of Don Sanderson they have not come up with any solutions other than an outright banning of the age old on ice justice.

While not all players encourage fighting or participate in the on ice donnybrooks or bench clearing brawls of lore they all feel fighting has a purpose and a place in the NHL, old or new…even those whose careers ended because of fighting and concussions sustained. The champion of the old guard and player code is CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada mouthpiece Don Cherry. Cherry claims that all players know the code and the worst incidents that occur are because some either get too emotional forget it, or it’s an accident from a misunderstanding. A vague way of phrasing but hockey viewers would understand it.

Don Cherry, Champion of "The Code"

 

 

 

 

 

Essentially the game was changed, for better or worse depending on view point, in the 1970’s by the Philadelphia Flyers and using fighting as a form of physical intimidation to win. Their vicious play earned them the title of the Broad Street Bullies and resulted in two Stanley Cup championships. To curb this view as hockey being a violent game in the United States the league moved to curb fighting by creating various penalties over the years.

The fear of players is that if fighting is removed from the game that the “cheap-shot artists” will be given free range to harass and take advantage of the top players so that a career could end from a elbow or stick to the head. Hockey great Steve Yzerman calls on fighting remain in the game to remove “the rats” who play with intent to seriously injure without fearing any on ice retribution… because lets face it… the league hands out nothing in the means of suspensions and fines unless player like Sean Avery call Elisha Cuthbert sloppy seconds when she starts going out with the neanderthal Dion Phaneuf. Players who fight serve as a way to regulate the conduct of play and what is acceptable. Would Gretzky have played as long as he did if he didn’t have fighters to protect him from those out to injure him? Would M. Lemieux? What would happen if Crosby or Ovechkin or any young star was to suffer a career ending injury at the hands of a third-tier player who knew nothing would happen to them?

Now if the league were to consider changing the rules of the game, the Canuckistan would be curious to see how fights with helmets would work because the officials would have to intervene once the helmet popped off. But these tough guys have more of a chance of breaking their hands on a helmet or visor than breaking their nose or cracking their skull open… and they know that risk.

Northern Canuckistan feels that if fighting were to be regulated it should meet certain criteria. First, players must not remove helmets before the bout, but they are allowed to pop off. Second, players should not be allowed to perform a wrestling style take down if the other player is without helmet. Third, the refs should jump in if the fight is considered to be too dangerous to player safety. And fourth would be no two designated heavyweights should fight just for the sake of it… rather they should be forced to PLAY hockey and fight only if they feel they are called upon to protect a teammate or seek retribution, within a certain bounds, against an opposing player who severely injured a teammate.

Thus far the commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, has publicly stated he has not entertained thoughts of removing fighting because he realizes it is part of the game… one of the few things he seems to have gotten right. However the General Managers of all the teams are meeting later this month and say they will address this issue, but let us hope for the future of the game they don’t do anything drastic. It’s unfortunate that Don Sanderson died because of a hockey fight (in a senior mens league which had stricter anti-fighting rules), and that others get injured from fights, but fighting is a part of the game and any hockey fan will agree, so why cater to the small percentage of non-fans who think hockey is too violent and use one off incidents to further their vendetta? If you want to watch a clean sport may I suggest tennis or figure skating?

A couple videos to show that, like it or not, fighting sells in the NHL.