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Does “Banning” Fighting Encourage Cheap Shots?
by George James Malik on 03/25/07 at 08:28 PM ET
Comments (3)
from Bob Duff of the Windsor Star:
About a half hour after they’d peeled Detroit Red Wings defenceman Brett Lebda off the ice and on to a stretcher to be taken to hospital, Kelly Chase, one-time resident tough guy for the St. Louis Blues and currently a broadcaster for the team, reminisced about what might have happened to someone had they taken such liberties with a Wings player in his day.
“I didn’t have to call (National Hockey League commissioner) Gary Bettman to find out what the punishment was for running a guy from behind in Detroit,” Chase said. “The punishment was (Bob) Probert and (Joe) Kocur.”
While the tall foreheads at the NHL offices pontificate over what to do about fighting, the real ugly problem in the league revealed itself once more Saturday afternoon at Joe Louis Arena.
Unbalanced schedules mean some teams play more, brewing more bad blood. And quite simply, the players hold no longer hold respect for each other.
“We can talk to them all we want, but ultimately, it’s up to the players,” Murray said regarding the potential for change this frightening and growing culture.
The scariest art of all this is that there’s a possibility that in a clandestine manner, the league favours the violence.Filed in: NHL Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
To ban fighting, one might as well make sure the pucks don’t have any sharp edges, the stick blades need padding with some lace trim, skates should have guards so no one ever gets cut, full face shields and or cages need to be required and heaven forbid any falls to the hard ice surface and gets injured.
This is the NHL, like I said earlier if you take all the STUFF that made the NHL the NHL, we might as well call it curling. We could spray everyone down with Rhyno-Lining to make sure they are fully protected against all possible injuries. How about suspensions for one year period. With the way the free agency market is and the Cap being inn place, teams will be dumping and picking up players like no other. Maybe the suspension would last longer if the player is older.
Fighting has it’s place in the game, look back to 3/26/1997… Detroit vs. Colorado, what a game. Payback for the hit from behind on Draper the year before. This was a bench clearing brawl and McCarty leveling Lemieux. We need this in the game. We need the fights to spark teams and raise emotion. Just leave it alone. Dirty, cheap shot need to be handled with suspensions and intentional acts to harm need to have very heavy penalties leveled.
Posted by Tony from Mid-Michigan on 03/26/07 at 07:46 AM ET
I watched Nascar at Bristol, dammit every time they turned left it seemed there was a crash. They should ban those darn left turns - UNSAFE! (SIC)
Posted by Ryan from BC on 03/26/07 at 07:29 PM ET
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I once heard Mark Messier say in an interview that hitting from behind should not be a penalty. Like you just now, I too almost lept from my seat… But then Messier explained that before the hitting from behind rule was in place players heads were on a swivel. They would never put themselves in a position where they could get rocked and not be prepared. It makes sense to me. Having the hitting from behind penalty just gives the players a false sense of security and then when some chump does come along and do it someone gets hurt bad. The lack of respect thing is pretty concerning though and Murray has it nailed, only the players can change that.
Posted by Ryan from BC on 03/26/07 at 12:23 AM ET