Fighting in Hockey

After the lockout in Hockey a couple years back, the commissioner instituted many new rules to help improve offense and the free flow of skating in order to make the game more interesting and hopefully entice more people to come and watch games. I like what Bettman has done in reducing the size of goalie pads and other rules that have increased the action in games. However, there are some things that I think need to be done to increase viewership even more. For one, the notion of making fighting illegal in hockey has to be looked at as brainless.

For hockey purists, fighting is the only thing they have left from the golden days. I think that the commish needs to get rid of the third man in the fight rule. When I search hockey fights on youtube, there are tons of fights where there are whole teams involved in fights. That is the essence of hockey. While I like the emphasis on skating now, I think that hockey needs to get back to what made it popular, and that is physicality. Fans get most inspired when there are big hit or fights, so why not put an emphasis on that type of play. Hockey is supposed to be blue collar and about physical play turning into scoring, not guys weaving about. I wish that I could have been alive to see some of the Bruins' teams of the 70's with Terry O'Reilly. Fights back then were awesome. Refs didn't get involved that quick and it also forced all of the players on the ice to have a shred of physicality to them, unlike now when there are players like Sid the Kid who are little pansies.

Hockey is about physical play. Fighting is an integral part in the sport. Without it, many fans will not watch the NHL and they would lose a lot of money. I am all for the new rules that allow for a faster pace, but to get rid of fighting would be to get rid of physical play. Fighting provides entertainment. I only wish that I could have been alive when bench clearing brawls and real physical fights took place.