Oh the humanity! Ah yes. If Lee Harvey Oswald’s fatal bullet that killed President Kennedy in 1963 was the shot heard around the world and Paul Henderson’s winning goal in the Summit Series the goal heard around the world then Connor McDavid’s right hand off the dasher board in his second OHL fight had to be the punch heard around the world. It reignited the fighting debate in hockey so I’m back with another poll, in advance of my show tomorrow to yet again gauge response from people anonymously or also with comments on your thoughts on fighting in hockey. This debate is probably the only one that can move an analytics discussion off the front burner on twitter or elsewhere. I think most of you know where I stand. To me, fighting is part of the game. It’s penalized like the myriad of other calls that can be made, it’s a potentially suspensionable offense again, like any number of other infractions and I hope a fight is never accompanied with an automatic game misconduct. One last comment then onto the poll. You can’t abolish fighting. It will always be a part of every hockey league in the world. There is no full contact hockey being played anywhere in the world that does not have fights. There is virtually no hockey anywhere, with referees, score keeper and a winner or loser contact or not that doesn’t have fights. Somewhere in a Men’s league last night in Ottawa there was a fight, almost assuredly. And this is with men who are getting up to go to work the next day. The NCAA has had 27 fights in the last four years. A phenomenally low amount yet, that’s 27 fights. People say there’s no fighting the playoffs in the NHL. Biggest fallacy going; ten last year, seventy in the last four years in the NHL playoffs. All that to say, the owners, presidents, managers, coaches, players and most hockey fans that pay to watch games in a league that has just embarked on a record setting TV deal, want fighting to stay a part of the NHL game in so much as the combatants are not further penalized or suspended for a fight. I concur. Do you? Accompanying video is six minutes long. It’s from a bench brawl on March 11, 1979, perhaps the height of the craziest days in NHL history. There was a history between several of the combatants. Noteworthy that former Ottawa Senator GM Mel Bridgeman is front and center in three separate bouts with LA’s Steve Jensen. Number four for LA, Randy Holt, recorded a record setting number of pim’s during the first period of this game and this brawl. Remember it’s a 60 minute game, 65 today with overtime. Holt picked up 67 penalty minutes on this night. This is not for the faint of heart. Holt’s fight with Holmgren although brief is beyond vicious; it’s at the 4min mark. Bridgeman and Jensen fight throughout. https://youtube/watch?v=-hMesmZTSz8
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 19:23:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015