The Sensible Decline of Fighting in Hockey

I grew up watching Gordie Howe play for the Red Wings. Of course, I reached almost middle aged before he stopped playing in the AHL. One thing he was known for, in addition to being a great scorer, was his toughness. He even has a "hat trick" named after him which includes a brawl. On the Wings, I remember him on a line with Alex Delvecchio and Frank Mahovlich. My recollection is that they were the top scoring line and known best to me for their talented play.

Now that I have established my bona fides in terms of "traditional, original 8" hockey, let me say this. Fighting in hockey should be banned, with severe penalties given to those who make an effort to instigate one. This is how fighting is dealt with in the other professional sports, except for boxing. There is no place for sanctioned barefisted hand to hand combat in hockey.

Why do I feel this way? For one, the increased awareness of the prevalence of concussions and other serious injury from fighting removes any notion of it as a "harmless entertainment."  Another is the basic incongruence between the skill of hockey and the brutality of a fist fight. And if it weren't such a potentially dangerous situation, the sight of linesmen and referees standing aside as two men "face off" would be comical in comparison to their eagerness to find a skater offsides or to penalize a team for "delay of game."

But fighting which may one day have been considered a part of the game, has lost its place. Players are realizing the threat that violence of this type has to their earning power and to their ability to function off the ice. It is also true that the role of enforcer as marketing device for the team is being replaced by players realizing the value of marketing themselves.

The current "enforcer" for the Chicago Blackhawks is Brandon Bollig. During his first game, he "dropped the gloves" and acquitted himself well in that regard. During his first year, the Blackhawks had another player who took on the same role at times, Jamal Mayers. After the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup this past season, many images were shown of players drinking champagne from it. A number of them took the cup to public gatherings; Jamal Mayers tweeted a picture of himself with his two grade school age daughters and later took them along when the team visited the White House.

And it is clear Bollig himself has realized the changing trend away from fighting in the NHL. Foremost, he undertook special offseason training to improve his skating and shooting ability and has expressed his desire to contribute his non-pugilistic skills to the team. He also has made efforts to market himself, recently appearing at a men's clothing store with Patrick Sharp to model suits and other apparel.

Hockey can be a violent sport; for the most part, it occurs as part of the striving to score goals or prevent them from being scored. Fighting may have been seen a part of this competition in the past, but because of sensible reactions to the increased awareness of its dangers and the fleeting rewards that exposure to cranial violence brings to players, it is seeing its heyday. I say, good riddance.