Hasn’t this been done to death?

The vast majority of players say fighting is and should be part of this game.  Those are the opinions i’m going with.  Not some blogger with too much time on his hands.

You and Damian Cox should take a petition to the streets and leave the rest of us alone.

You get rid of fighting and you might as well hire half a dozen doctors to be rinkside for every game to repair the damage done by the resulting stickwork.

Long live the hockey fight!  Remove the instigator!

Posted by Dan from Halifax on 10/17/07 at 01:31 PM ET

Ian wants to ban fighting because he is fairy, and wouldn’t know hockey if it fell out of the sky, landed on his face, and started to wiggle.

Posted by Jdunc from Flint, MI on 10/17/07 at 02:04 PM ET

I like fighting. All my friends like fighting. I don’t know who this imaginary American family that hates fighting is, but I am not part of it. Where I come from, we are confident that we are able to teach our children not to do everything they see adults doing. Fighting in hockey is hardly the greater challenge when rearing children when you have television out there.

Posted by false_cause from DC on 10/17/07 at 02:20 PM ET

“We might get to see them beat someone half to death!”

This is hyperbole. How many fights have you seen where one of the two players involved is seriously injured. It’s as much spectacle as it is intense fighting. I don’t care for boxing or cage-fighting, but I like a good hockey fight. Should hooligan acts where one player jumps another player from behind, and sticks to the head be dealt with severely, with possible life-time bans? Sure, I’m open to that. But if two grown men want to fight while they’re both essentially wearing body armor, I say bring it on.

Honestly, when I was a kid, the best thing about a hockey game was the opportunity to catch a puck that went over the glass. That kept me glued to the action, with my baseball glove in hand. Now, that’s mostly gone, and probably for good reason. But, don’t get rid of the fighting.

Posted by penguinsfan on 10/17/07 at 02:48 PM ET

How likely is a player to be hauled off the ice on a stretcher while the entire crowd waits in a sick silence to see if he’s moving after a fight compared witht eh likelihood after a cheap shot?  Or even a freak accident where he just catches a rut wrong and slides into the boards headfirst without being hit?

I don’t have any strong opinion on fighting, except it gives me a chance to go to the kitchen and grab a snack.  In a fast-paced game like hockey, I’d rather see a pause because of a fight than another phantom penalty, or a dive.  if the fight is any good, they will replay it after I come back from the kitchen; if it is a typical hockey fight (lots of swings until one guy falls over and the officials pull them apart) then I don’t mind missing it.

Either way, hockey fights are usually predictable and both players are prepared, so it seems relatively harmless in most cases.  Certainly more so than catching a puck in the face, anyway.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 10/17/07 at 04:23 PM ET

i say take your family to see some of america’s other favorite past times.  professional gambling (i mean poker is truly the moral high ground)?  maybe some ufc (seems like this sport is nothing but bare knuckles fighting)?

Posted by heed from edmonton on 10/17/07 at 04:36 PM ET

10 out of 10 families know that there are fights in hockey and i have never seen a player beaten half to death at a game. Ian needs to stick to tennis IMO and quit watching hockey (if he even watches) and mind his own business. If you can’t handle the game of hockey keep your piehole shut and turn the channel the sport of hockey does not need you anyways. I still find it funny that some folks have zero clue as to why fighting is in the game of hockey yet take the time to voice a clueless opinion.

Posted by Cupster33 on 10/17/07 at 05:27 PM ET

Ian, you haven’t played the game at an elite level, if at all.  A ban on fighting would serve no good to the game, a fact known well by those on the inside.  If you dislike the increase in stick infractions, then you must embrace fighting as a reasonable means to settle dispute and change momentum.  A fight is hockeys version of charging the mount in baseball, football is so inherently violent you can’t begin to compare the two.  So in your hypothetical scenario, it’s tennis or curling for that cozy family looking for some clean entertainment—good luck with that.

- Derek from Cloud9 Sports

Posted by Cloud9 Sports from Canada on 10/17/07 at 06:51 PM ET

is this guy related to gary Bettman?

He makes the dumbest case against it.

Posted by FlyersFan on 10/17/07 at 07:12 PM ET

Hockey is an acceptable forum to behave in an unacceptable manner. Most of what happens on a rink would result in an arrest on the street. Ian wants the moral high ground, but if fighting disturbs is delicate sensibilities so much then stop going to games. Or, I know, maybe “the new NHL” could just take out hitting all together, so Ian won’t have to see people get bruised. While we’re at it, let’s stop keeping score, losing can be hard on self esteem, Ian feels bad for them. What a tool.

Posted by wingsfan in 'lancheland from 'lancheland on 10/17/07 at 09:28 PM ET

Quoting SI as an authority on hockey is pretty funny. Some people will write just about anything to see how many blog hits they can generate.

Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 10/18/07 at 03:02 PM ET

As a player, referee, and organizer of Junior hockey, i feel i’m qualified to have a legitimate mature opinion.  If anyone thinks fighting in hockey is entertainment, you would be better off attending an extreme fighting or WWF event.  Besides participating in this despicable behaviour, the winner is the one who bashes his knuckles the most on the opponents helmut; not very smart ! Added to this we’ve never seen many of the best hockey players in the World because they quit in their teens due to the bullshit of violence, and many potential spectators will not attend hockey games due to the violence others condone. If you like hockey fights, i hope you and Don Cherry meet Dave Semenko(cement head)in a dark alley one day. Have fun !!

Posted by Bill Ark from Canada on 12/15/07 at 02:09 PM ET