State of the Game (Third Period)

(Budget: I'll get to it. I'm famous for starting series of things, especially when it comes to writing, and not finishing them...and hockey games have three periods, so...)

Fighting. Does it belong in hockey?

It's always been there. That's neither here nor there; I'm the last person to suggest that just because something has always been one way, means it always has to be that way. The question has always been there, too. It's increasingly relevant after the death of Don Sanderson, a Whitby Dunlops (senior amateur league)  player who got into a fight, lost his helmet, hit his head on the ice, and later died.

 

But it is a fact: NHL hockey has always had fights. The frequency and relative brutality tends to wax and wane. The 1920s and 80s were particularly violent. Fighting has decreased somewhat in recent years, though this season has seen a slight uptick.

WHY DO HOCKEY PLAYERS FIGHT?

The simplistic answer is that hockey players fight to alleviate tension. Hockey is a very physical game and emotions run high; the game is also played at high speed with weapons (sticks) always at hand. 

That said, you don't see fights in basketball, where the speed is almost as frenetic and there's considerably more physical contact. You don't see fights in football, where every player is a projectile weapon and the whole point is to drive your body through whoever's in your way. Both these sports have very strict rules banning fisticuffs. Hockey fighters get five minutes in the "sin bin", and only accrue a stiffer penalty if they do something egregious in the fight, such as using the stick as a spear. Punching the opponent in the head's perfectly okay (provided your glove is off).

There are actually many reasons NHL players may fight. Retaliation is the most common. Perhaps you or your teammate was just high-sticked, cross-checked, or otherwise the victim of dirty play. The enforcer on your team is then semi-obligated to "do something about that", i.e. engage the offender (or perhaps his designated enforcer) in a fistic dialogue. The offense may have occurred the last time your teams tangled: hockey players have long memories.

Lately, I've noticed this behaviour spreading. You'll often see a fight after a  perfectly clean and legal (albeit hard) check. That really irks me. A clean check is (usually) avoidable if you're paying attention. Kids are taught to keep their heads up so they can spot incoming freight trains. But even at the pro level, you'll occasionally see a player forget that cardinal rule. He's usually admiring the lovely tape-to-tape pass he just made when he gets steamrolled, and as such--sorry to say it, folks--has it coming to him.

Almost as common is the momentum shift. Fighting energizes the crowd and can certainly energize a bench. If your team has just given up a couple of quick goals against, your enforcer may decide it's time to send a message. 

Occasionally you'll see a fight seemingly just for the hell of it. Two enforcers will signal each other at the face off... "you wanna go?" The sticks and gloves are discarded and they chong away on each other for a while...then they smile at each other and go to the penalty box.

Barbaric? Perhaps. But, as Don Cherry is wont to say, enforcers respect each other and every fight between them is consensual. 

Derek Boogaard, also known as "The Boogeyman", is a 6'7" player for the Minnesota Wild. He's widely regarded as the most intimidating player in the NHL. Actually playing hockey is not his strong suit: he has one point, an assist, in his past three seasons. But he's a legendary fighter.

He and his brother Aaron (who will soon be a Pittsburgh Penguin) have opened a "hockey fight camp" for kids aged 12 to 18 that has attracted its share of controversy. They claim they're not teaching kids how to hurt each other but rather how to avoid being hurt.

This, I think, is the correct attitude. Because banning fighting in the NHL won't work anymore than banning fighting in the streets has stopped people from occasionally getting into fights. It's worth noting that the league Don Sanderson played in had banned fights several years previously. It's also worth noting that Sanderson's father (who once played hockey himself) made a point of speaking to the guy his son had fought...and absolving him of any responsibility in the death. 

Polls show a slim majority of Canadians would like to see fighting abolished. This doesn't surprise me: Canadians (and Americans) have shown over my lifetime an increasing aversion to anything even remotely risky. But most if not all NHL players accept fighting and recognize its place in the game. I'd suggest those are the people who know what they're talking about.