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Ice Hockey

Gentlemen,

I was sent a PM by one of our members asking about Ice Hockey. The member is from a country where Hockey is not played and he is very interested in Hockey, and is having some difficulty understanding why there are so many fights, and why the Referees don't take action to stop the fighting (at times the Refs. seem to be just standing by and watching).

I grew up in a portion of the USA that did not have hockey, and I am out of my depth here. If it were baseball, I could tell him that arguments are part of the game, and usually occur when discussing the finer points of the rules or when an Umpire and a player have a difference of opinion about a specific play. Fights in baseball are usually reserved for situations where the batter and pitcher strongly disagree about a few inches on the inside of the plate (for non-baseball fans, the side closest to the batter), especially those few inches in the proximity of the batters head. But alas with Hockey, I am out of my league.

Any explanation of hockey and especially the fighting involved would be greatly appreciated. Please, no jokes about going to a fight last night and a hockey game broke out. :lol:

eric.
 
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Hockey fights are a relic from an older time when the players were all broke, underpaid beer-truck drivers during the off-season, and a dispute that was settled with fists on the ice was truly settled. There was real rivalry between teams, players and fans actually hated each other. In a 6-team league they'd play every team 15 or 20 time a seaons, so you could build up some real animosity over the course of a year.

These days, hockey players are pampered millionaires who pretend to fight because the crowds enjoy it.
 
I grew up playing hockey and was fortunate enough to play all the way through college.

Hockey in fighting exists for three reasons: it allows the players "police themselves" in terms of gross physical violence going unpunished, it mitigates trash-talking, and it can be used to change the momentum of a game. People may not like the reasons or say other sports do fine without it, but those are the reasons.

Imagine you've got a guy who's 5'9", 175 lbs, skating around 22 mph spearing (stabbing) guys that average 6'2" 210 lbs. You wouldn't want that right? Would you want that same little guy carving up your face by being reckless with his stick? Kicking you with his skate after you've fallen? Do you want him barreling into you from behind while you're close to the boards and potentially breaking your neck? Do you want him slashing your wrists or the back of your knee as your skating up ice? Do you want him running over your largely stationary goalie? Probably not. A 2 minute penalty really isn't that big a deal. Imagine if some guy just took runs at your star player. Wouldn't want that would you? As such, fighting exists primarily in order to keep players accountable. If you know that spearing, hitting from behind, high-sticking, and slashing will be met with nothing more than a 2 minute penalty, you have made the game immensely more violent and dangerous than if you knew such action might be met with multiple punches to your face.

In a somewhat illogical though effective way, hockey protects its players and reduces the overall amount of gross violence by allowing for fighting.

In addition to spearing, hits from behind, high-sticking, slashing, or any other violent action that fighting effectively polices, fighting also reduces the amount of trash talking. Ever watch an NBA game? They don't shut up...because there aren't any consequences. Ever watch NFL wideouts and DBs go at it? They jaw jack all game long. Lineman? A lot less because they actually make physical contact. They have a sort of fight on every down. Now, do you see a lot of trash talking in the NHL? No. There are two reasons: fighting and the number of languages spoken. It is more due to fighting than the languages (English, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Canadian...jk) because mouthing off might result in your mouth containing fewer teeth. I personally like that.

The last reason is that fighting can simply reverse the momentum of the other team or at least stem the tide. Why? Hockey teams get one timeout per game. Contrast that with football and your six. Basketball seems to get a lot too. Baseball? They have one that lasts the length of the game. In hockey, if the other team has scored a couple quick goals what's the best way to get your team back on track or wake them up? Fight. It's more difficult to score in hockey than other sports so if you can't do that to reverse the tide, you can always have a fight for your team.

Does that answer your question? It's somewhat counter-intuitive to think that fighting actually reduces the overall violence in the sport, but it does. People think it's barbaric, but if your daughter had to merry a guy from any sport, I'd be willing to bet you'd take a guy from the NHL over the average NBA, NFL, or even MLB player. Hockey breeds a culture of maturity, accountability, and being an overall stand up guy because of things like fighting which hold you to a standard. I'm sure you have an Ethics Policy at work and you're expected to hold yourself and your peers to it. Fighting is hockey's version of an Ethics Policy for the workplace.
 
I grew up playing hockey and was fortunate enough to play all the way through college.

Hockey in fighting exists for three reasons: it allows the players "police themselves" in terms of gross physical violence going unpunished, it mitigates trash-talking, and it can be used to change the momentum of a game. People may not like the reasons or say other sports do fine without it, but those are the reasons.

Imagine you've got a guy who's 5'9", 175 lbs, skating around 22 mph spearing (stabbing) guys that average 6'2" 210 lbs. You wouldn't want that right? Would you want that same little guy carving up your face by being reckless with his stick? Kicking you with his skate after you've fallen? Do you want him barreling into you from behind while you're close to the boards and potentially breaking your neck? Do you want him slashing your wrists or the back of your knee as your skating up ice? Do you want him running over your largely stationary goalie? Probably not. A 2 minute penalty really isn't that big a deal. Imagine if some guy just took runs at your star player. Wouldn't want that would you? As such, fighting exists primarily in order to keep players accountable. If you know that spearing, hitting from behind, high-sticking, and slashing will be met with nothing more than a 2 minute penalty, you have made the game immensely more violent and dangerous than if you knew such action might be met with multiple punches to your face.

In a somewhat illogical though effective way, hockey protects its players and reduces the overall amount of gross violence by allowing for fighting.

In addition to spearing, hits from behind, high-sticking, slashing, or any other violent action that fighting effectively polices, fighting also reduces the amount of trash talking. Ever watch an NBA game? They don't shut up...because there aren't any consequences. Ever watch NFL wideouts and DBs go at it? They jaw jack all game long. Lineman? A lot less because they actually make physical contact. They have a sort of fight on every down. Now, do you see a lot of trash talking in the NHL? No. There are two reasons: fighting and the number of languages spoken. It is more due to fighting than the languages (English, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Canadian...jk) because mouthing off might result in your mouth containing fewer teeth. I personally like that.

The last reason is that fighting can simply reverse the momentum of the other team or at least stem the tide. Why? Hockey teams get one timeout per game. Contrast that with football and your six. Basketball seems to get a lot too. Baseball? They have one that lasts the length of the game. In hockey, if the other team has scored a couple quick goals what's the best way to get your team back on track or wake them up? Fight. It's more difficult to score in hockey than other sports so if you can't do that to reverse the tide, you can always have a fight for your team.

Does that answer your question? It's somewhat counter-intuitive to think that fighting actually reduces the overall violence in the sport, but it does. People think it's barbaric, but if your daughter had to merry a guy from any sport, I'd be willing to bet you'd take a guy from the NHL over the average NBA, NFL, or even MLB player. Hockey breeds a culture of maturity, accountability, and being an overall stand up guy because of things like fighting which hold you to a standard. I'm sure you have an Ethics Policy at work and you're expected to hold yourself and your peers to it. Fighting is hockey's version of an Ethics Policy for the workplace.


+1

With much the same background, we share more or less the same views.

Nice post.
 
To support DolimiteB's excellent reply:

Hockey, unlike baseball or basketball is a contact sport. Hitting people is allowed, and therefore can sometimes go too far. Enforcers, at one time, were put in place to protect their star players to ensure that those hits were kept clean.

Now, unfortunately, fights are pre-planned scuffles between two guys who are paid to be seen fighting: "when the puck drops, so do our gloves, right?"
 
Yes +1 in general to the comments above.

It's physical and once in a while a fight is simply a loss of temper as well.

The reason the refs don't jump in to break up a fight as soon as it starts (I think I was told once) is for their own safety. They don't jump in when the fists are raining. Also it's more possible to break 'em up when they are more tired after fighting for a minute or two.

Oh!
The good old hockey game!
Its the best game you can name!
And the best game you can name,
is the good old hockey game!

--Tom Connors
 
A big thanks for all your replies. It now makes sense to me. Being a baseball fan, I have long applauded the self policing of baseball. The bean ball has prevented much of the cheap shots, trash talking, and show boating that goes on in other sports, most notably in the NBA. There is nothing like a 90-100 mph baseball coming at your head to make you think twice about showing up your opponents.

Again, thanks for your replies.

eric.
 
Thanks so much to opened this thread and for all your replies. i got many usefull information about ice hockey...

Regards.
 
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