By The STATSMAN, Paul Bruno
Fighting in Hockey
This is a long-standing discussion in hockey circles but the stakes have been raised with passing of Don Sanderson, a minor league player with the Whitby Dunlops of Canada’s top tier Senior Hockey League, Major League Hockey. This story grabbed headlines last week, but already it seems to be fading away.
For years the proponents of keeping fighting in hockey could trot out statements that, other than an occasional broken or bloody nose, no one really gets hurt in a hockey fight.
For years they were right.
It is, and always has been the case, that fans stand and cheer wildly when a fight breaks out. But in the end both players would skate off relatively unscathed. That must be what it was like for the Christians who were fed to the lions a long time ago. Some progress for society, huh?
Times are changing. Players are way bigger and stronger than ever and a number of them are also very adept at keeping their balance and really duking it out like never before. They are often well versed in fighting due to boxing regimens as a part of their off-ice training.
Hockey remains the only team sport where fighting does not automatically mean expulsion from the game for a player.
Yet it remains almost a strategic element in the game.
Again proponents will argue that fighting is something that players will resort to, if their team is trailing in a game and they look to looking to energize their club in this way.
That makes some sense but more often than not it is a wake up call for both teams. The leading team is now advised to be on higher alert and their awareness of more intense opposition could raise their level of play in the same breath as the boost that a trailing team might get out of the pugilistic exchange.
Take fighting out and you will see more liberties taken with the hockey sticks others say. That argument does not hold much water though, as the rules are quite strict for such a tactic and the penalties quite severe.
The skills and actions of professional players in the NHL are emulated at all levels of hockey. Any weekend you can go to your community’s arenas and you will see fine skills on display but you will often also see young boys squaring off in fights, just like the pros.
The message needs to be made explicit.
Even the WWE says, do not try this at home. Leave it to the professionals, if at all.
The bottom lie is a life has been lost as a result of a hockey fight. Call it an accidental death, if you will. But a young man has lost his life because of a hockey fight. That is far too high a price to pay, even for a game you love.
The NHL has to take a look at the outcome and never let it happen that way again.
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Posted by S L 
