Fighting In Ice Hockey

[Dr Markus]

I take it, it’s fair to say it’s used directly or indirectly as a selling point of the game? I know fights stats are down every most years compared to what it used to be but outside of combat sports how is this allowed to be encouraged? I was youtubeing ice hockey fights and eventually wikied some “enforcers”. I learned that an kid who was an enforcer died this year and his brain was basically beat to mush. I’m assuming that you can be fighting one night take a few punches to the head, sin binned for 5?10? minutes then you’re back on the ice? I mean are the team doctors on Ice hockey teams really doctors? Through watching the MMA (mixed martial arts), and no I’m not comparing the two, I’ve learned somewhat about the injuries of being repeatedly boxed in the head. The time that someone has to take off to let their head heal from being rattled with a punch etc. and quite frankly I’m surprised some sporting commission somewhere hasn’t outlawed this fighting in Ice hockey.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enforcer_(ice_hockey)#Summer_2011_enforcer_deaths

[Owllady]

I've been a fan of ice hockey since the late 70s. Sadly, such fighting is still often called "part of the game." I like to see guys sticking up for each other when somebody gets sucker punched, but "enforcers" to me are just paid thugs. The use of "enforcers" used to be more prevalent through the 80s; they were often called "goons" back then.

The sport is just recently starting to admit that all that bashing can seriously damage or kill you. The commissioner of the NHL is a spineless ass who just wants to see ticket sales jump and he knows that many fans (unfortunately) want to see fights.

But some of the players continue the atmosphere of fighting. When helmets were made mandatory, some of them (the goons in particular) raised holy hell about it. "you can't tell me what to do" sort of thing. "I'm a hockey player, what the fuck do I need a helmet for?" *sigh*

Even now, some players will not wear face shields, and it's not uncommon for an errant stick or puck to smack somebody in the eye. A former player died several months ago and his family agreed to let doctors examine his brain. They found damage that they attributed to years of abuse. To me, there's always been a difference between goon behavior and defending yourself/a team mate.

Nowadays, it's a bit more common than it used to be for somebody to get thrown out of the game for serious fighting, but if his victim got a concussion, you can't fix that. It just contributes to a shortened lifespan.

My home team just signed a guy known for being "physical". I'm not entirely comfortable with that because I don't want to see my team rely on hitting instead of good play, or be responsible for somebody's career and/or life being cut short.

It's a difficult thing though, because by its nature, it does tend to be a very physical game. It's easy to get carried away. The trouble is that there aren't severe enough penalties for fighting, because the NHL encourages it. Not in so many words, but they definitely do.

[fueryhk(redux)]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufEtQcisrgg