I love hockey. It's right up there with my family, whiskey, baseball and women. The speed and intensity of this game makes it one of the world's best sports. It's a full contact sport with a gracefulness not seen in football or even basketball. The violent aspect has been inspected and criticized as unnecessary and pointless by the mindless fucks who don't watch and understand the game, and then the bloodthirsty morons who only come for the fights and yell "Shoot" 50 times a game don't help the cause either.
Fighting in hockey is around for a purpose within the game, it's to let the players police themselves and hold themselves accountable for dangerous plays and cheap shots that may occur. If a random player takes a run or a whack at the opposing team's superstar player, there should be a retaliatory consequence of that player facing off with one of the team enforcers, who's main job is to protect his teammates.
Well thanks to NHL Commish/Resident Asshole Gary Bettman, and the Instigator rule that has been a headache for nearly 20 seasons now, and after the lockout, his addition of suspensions and fines for starting a fight in the last 5 minutes of a game, Rules that were ment to keep the dirty plays and bench-clearing brawls that ruled the ice in the 70's and Early 80's eventually led to the help of a new breed of dirty hockey that cannot be policed on the ice. Scumbags like Sean Avery and Raffi Torres, to name a few, can run around and take cheap shots like a video game and maybe worry about a game misconduct or a small fine, but what they need as a real punishment, as my good friend would say, is the credible threat of violence reciprocated unto them.
So where have these dirty players come from? Well you have the european players (who invoke the scrutiny of many fans, mostly canadiens) that come over here, rarely if ever being in a hockey fight before in their entire lives. They see North American Hockey as a slower, more physical game, but they have to adapt to the intricacies of the physicalness of our brand. As a result of the famous european styles that leaked over the years, the younger generations started to look up to Jaromir Jagr and Sergei Federov in the 90's instead of a Bob Probert or a Jeremy Roenick. While Jagr and Fedorov are world-class talent, the style of a Probert, who was a fighter that had the hands to put away 10-15 goals in a season while consistently standing up for his teammates and putting up 300+ penalties in minutes. Or in Roenick's case, a 50-goal scoring talent who could get dirty in the corners, throw and take a big hit, and wouldn't shy away from dropping the gloves if need be.
So now, states-side, we have this influx of youth who are taught the offensive elements of hockey ad nauseam, but lack the physical and defensive fine-tunings that are not empathized until later in a player's career, if at all. The grooming comes from what we see every night on the highlight reels. If we show kids 11 goals a game and lots of dekes and spin-o-rama drop passes, then they will try that on the rinks instead of taking the knee and blocking a shot or throwing a good clean bodycheck in the neutral zone. Bettman wanted to make the NHL some sort of pinball, free for all type sport like basketball, and was willing to sacrifice the strategic plays and formations that made hockey unique for decades.
Then you have the parents who couldn't eat a clue and pull it out of their ass an hour later, they don't want their children swinging fists at each other. Really? because last time I checked, hockey is requiring them to use sticks and stand on sharp blades on a hard surface. Danger surrounds this game based off of its element, so to worry about fights that are as a result of a more dangerous even usually, it's the pot calling the kettle cookware.
Parents should use fighting in hockey as a teaching tool. When you go against the rules in this game, you don't have to just worry about the penalties, but you have to be mindful of the others on the ice who will defend their teammates. Just like in real life, if you attack someone, not only could you get arrested, but someone who's with the person you attacked just might come fuck you up for what you've done. Conversely, you can teach them how teamwork and camaraderie is built by standing up for someone when they are taken advantage of in a situation
So now what do we have on the ice? A bunch of small, fast, cheap shot artists who's idea of playing tough, intimidating and physical hockey is by elbowing guys to the side of the head and slamming players to the boards from behind. It's fucking disgraceful, and to make matters worse, the disciplinary board leader, former NHL player Brendan Shanahan (who, for the record, is the only NHLer with 600 Goals and 2,000+ Penalty Minutes, and let me tell you, those weren't all tripping calls) is basically blowing off his responsibilities by setting inconsistent fines and punishments for dirty plays. I understand that his job was created out of fear from the consequences from the new findings on concussions (something that, I'm sorry, is just going to fucking happen in a full contact sport. If you play hockey and worry about concussions, stop and fucking take up curling)
So if we don't curb the dirty shit on the ice as it happens, or properly curb it after extensive video review by an (alleged) expert of the game, then where the fuck does it stop? To take all the fights and hits out of hockey makes this soccer on ice, which no one outside of Gary Bettman and his army of biscuit soft hockey moms who have groomed these male figure skaters in expensive pads, would want to see.
We need to bring the game back to what is has been and always will be. Tough, Physical and Intimidating. And we can start by making the new crop of players out of that mold. Show these kids clips of Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Bobby Orr, Mike Bossy, Cam Neely, Jeremy Roenick, Bob Probert, Keith Magnuessen, Billy Smith, Stu Grimson, Bobby Clarke, I could name hundreds that played the game with Grit, Intensity, Balls, but could still put the goddamn puck in the net (or in Battlin' Billy's case, keep the goddamn thing out)
Once Bettman (dies) leaves office, we need a new commissioner who understands these values and acts accordingly. Eliminates the instigator rule, sets firm penalties for cheap and dirty play, and doesn't try to soften the product millions of us love worldwide.
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