Fighting in Hockey: In or Out

So you think that Olympic Hockey and College Hockey are basketball on ice.??
And have you ever watched a lacrosse game.??
And of course they are DEFENSEMEN. You don't think any team is going to have someone with skill fighting do you.

Olympic hockey is great, this debate has been raised again due to an on ice incident ending in death in a senior beer league; accidental but never the less it will only take a similar incident in the NHL for them to consider banning it. The odd thing is that it has been encouraged by the league to attract American fans yet judging from the response I would say that they have missed the mark as it makes the game look cheesy to potential fans. Olympic hockey has been exciting to watch and after an Olympic year I find the NHL looking childish. The game is taught at an early age and if the big boys stop it then over time it can be weeded out of the game. If you have end to end action it would be rare for any one to want that action to stop so there could be a fight.
Thank you for your response and at least we can look forward to the playoffs (the 2nd season) when fighting does not occur; or rarely anyway.
 
There aren't that many Americans playing. Most of the chippyness started when the Europeans started playing and high-sticking everyone. Just like football there was a time when they played with no helmets. Things change.
Time to move on.

Just to correct you on this, it was even much rougher in the 6 team league, there is a mystic about those times and many great players emerged to change the way the game is played but it was like gang warfare sometimes, but there really wasn't anything like today as an enforcer who comes out as per his job title and starts something to "spark up his bench". Get real, if you are paid in the millions you should not need something as juvenile as a fight to get you in to the game.
We are in agreement but as I said, the old days were much more violent. The rivalry between Montreal and Detroit as well as Toronto were legendary in the 50's and early 60's.
 
That is true but if you look at the way things changed once they formed a union, the guys started taking care of themselves and acting more civil. See if you can find an old film called Net Gains. It is the history of the NHL struggle to start a union.
 
That is true but if you look at the way things changed once they formed a union, the guys started taking care of themselves and acting more civil. See if you can find an old film called Net Gains. It is the history of the NHL struggle to start a union.

Very well made CBC movie, I have seen it (Net Worth) Hard to believe that one guy owned 4 teams.

http://www.cbcshop.ca/CBC/shopping/product.aspx?Product_ID=ETSPT

By the way; Are you a snow bird by any chance?
 
Just out of intest, who would stop watching/enjoying hockey if fighting was taken out?
 
Just out of intest, who would stop watching/enjoying hockey if fighting was taken out?

i might consider it if fighting was altogether banned.

not definately but maybe.

the reason being that I love the sport for its raw physicality. I feel like that would be the first step twoards outlawing checking.
 
OK, put your 2 cents in, it is being discussed a little more seriously now and I thought perhaps there might be a few opinions out there. For myself I say out, change the built in, old fashioned culture that has been the same old fall back excuse for ever.

Other wise we might as well start up the Rollerball league now. (Norman Jewison movie)
I don't care either way, but the level of excellence of the PLAYING had better go up first. If the most exciting part of a game is the fights, well, I won't be watching.

I remember the Boston Bruins glory days of Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, Kenny Hodge, Derek Sanderson, Wayne Cashman, Dallas Smith, Gerry Cheevers, Reggie Leach and Fred Stanfield. Later years brought a surge of other great players, but it was the GAME that mattered, not the fights. Great players made the game REALLY exciting.

The leagues got so big it diluted the excellence down just to fill all the openings on the teams. I'd be one to say they should limit the amount of teams the league can have. There are only so many excellent players to go around.
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I'd rather simmer for life than be a flash in the pan.
-Bermuda
 
IN!!!!

It's simple. Fighting one on one between two willing participants should always be part of the game. Cheap shots and bench clearing brawls should not.
 
So you think that Olympic Hockey and College Hockey are basketball on ice.??
And have you ever watched a lacrosse game.??
And of course they are DEFENSEMEN. You don't think any team is going to have someone with skill fighting do you.

Wow, where to start with this one. imo, NHL hockey has always been more exciting than Olympic and College (which I like also.) But that's just my preference.

And anyone saying most enforcers are defensemen just doesn't watch alot of hockey (or any!). Yes, some defencemen can/could fight (including the best player ever Bobby Orr) but most of the big names are typically forwards. Probert, Schulz, Kocur, Domi, Brashear, Twist, Grimson, Tiger Williams were all forwards. Here's a list of the current cream the crop, also all forwards.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/29/be...cz_ps_1029fight_slide_12.html?thisSpeed=15000

And to call defencemen unskilled is just plain wrong. Defencemen are often times the most skilled players on the ice. Hockey is about more than just scoring. I love seeing a great defensive play just as much as a goal, a big hit or a good fight. Forwards do a lot of great stuff, but so do defencemen, and they do it skating backwards.

And also, many great skill players could and did fight. Orr, Messier, Howe, Richard, Lindsay, Shanahan, Neely, etc. Probert and Kocur were my two favorite fighters ever and could brawl as well as anyone, but Probert had pretty good hands and scored a few goals too in his day. Kocur came back to the Wings in 97 and 98 to help them win a pair of Cups, and he rarely fought, but was more important as a checking forward and also had a big goal in one of the finals games against the flyers in 97. Made Hextall look like a rookie.
 
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