Fighting in ice hockey
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Fighting in ice hockey is a controversial aspect of the sport. The practice of fighting in ice hockey is tolerated in all levels of hockey, with various penalties assigned. The penalties, however are tiered towards the age and skill level of the leagues. Fighting is condoned in the National Hockey League, the North American junior leagues, and other North American professional minor leagues, where a five minute major penalty is given. However, fighting is punishable by ejection in the Peewee, College and European leagues, as in women's hockey at any level. Although it results in a major penalty, players who engage in fighting (except for instigating) do not get ejected from the game. Hockey remains the only major professional sport in North America to not eject players for fighting. Fights often are spontaneous, as a knee-jerk reaction to an on-ice incident during a game, though it has become more common for two opposing players (usually the enforcer for each team) to mutually agree to a fight, which usually occurs right after a faceoff. There are strategies on when, where, and how to fight, and these are difficult skills to learn.
Despite its detractors, hockey fighting remains popular with many fans. A good hockey fight never fails to get people out of their seats, and it's a common occurrence for fights to be replayed on sports news shows.
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[edit] The Dance
The hockey fight is like professional boxing, a somewhat ritualized affair with clear rules (not always written) between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
The acceptable form is boxing/grappling between a pair of players. They will maneuver themselves to either tie up their opponents' arms, or free an arm for a punch to the opponent's face/head. This form of combat is known in hockey parlance as the "dance," as the players will often circle each other in a grapple, looking for an advantage. When a pair of well-matched opposing players engage in a fight, the action of the officials is to back off while blows are actively being thrown. Usually very quickly one or both of the combatants will clinch the other so that punches can no longer be thrown, often falling to the ice in the process, or one of the combatants will "turtle" -- this is when the officials will enter the fray and carefully separate the combatants.
The "unwritten" rules outlaw any form of kicking, punching the stomach, touching the groin area using equipment or other forms of cheap shots to gain an advantage. It must remain a form of a boxing match on skates.
It is not uncommon for one or the other combatants to be bloodied, but significant injuries are rare. The most common injuries are facial lacerations, bruises, and broken noses. This partially has to do with the poor balance a person has on skates. A devastating punch is more difficult to land when one still must focus their balance and weight to some degree on their feet.
[edit] Consequences of fighting
In the National Hockey League, American Hockey League, ECHL, CHL, and other notable minor leagues, officials punish combatants with five-minute major penalties for fighting (hence the phrase "five for fighting") and sometimes more if a combatant is injured during the fight. A player is automatically ejected and suspended if the player tries to leave the bench to join a fight, and is also automatically ejected for using weapons of any kind (such as using a skate to kick an opponent, using a stick to hit an opponent, or wrapping tape around one's hands), as they can cause serious injury. A player who receives two instigator penalties in one game is also ejected automatically. Furthermore, his coach can be suspended up to ten games for allowing players to leave the bench to join a fight.
Also, a player who commits three major penalties, including fighting, during a game is automatically ejected, suspended, and fined on the third major penalty during a game. A player ejected for three major penalties in a game, or for use of weapons, cannot be replaced for five minutes.
In 2003, the ECHL added an ejection, fine, and suspension of an additional game for any player charged as an instigator of a fight during the final five minutes of the third period or any overtime. The NHL and AHL adopted the rule in 2005-06, and add a fine for the coach in the NHL.
In Division I & III NCAA hockey, the fighters are given a Game Disqualification, which is an ejection from the game and a suspension for as many games as the player has accrued Game Disqualifications during the course of a season. For example, if a player engages in a fight having already received a Game Disqualification earlier in the season, he is ejected from the game and then suspended for his team's next two games. This automatic suspension has tended to make fighting in college hockey relatively rare.
Although these measures help prevent the escalation of a single fight from becoming a bench-clearing brawl occasionally seen in baseball, bench-clearing brawls can and do occur in hockey, and it is sometimes the case that enough players are ejected so that a team may not have enough players to continue playing. One of the most infamous bench-clearing brawls was in the 1987 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship between Canada and the Soviet Union. This resulted in both teams' disqualification; a Canadian in the fight was future NHL star Theoren Fleury. Furthermore, the violent nature of fights mean that a player joining in a fight can risk serious injury or even death (although no one has died from a fight on the ice). In some cases, players have been criminally charged for their on-ice actions. [1]
It has been frequently argued that fighting is not necessary in hockey; however, it remains in the game to this day. Proponents argue that it remains vital as it sets a "tone" to the game to keep opposing players "in check" in an already controlled environment and it will also draw spectators to become even more involved in the game's intensity and allow for the players to become more motivated themselves. Proponents also argue that when fighting is suppressed, players are more likely to engage "dirty" plays, like "stick work" (i.e., the use of the stick as a weapon), which is arguably far more dangerous to players than fighting. Fighting is also claimed to be an important means of protecting a star player who is being brutalized by an opponent. Opponents of fighting retort that international and college hockey, which both harshly penalize fighting with suspensions, lack the incidents or "stick work" violence proponents claim to fear, and question what it is about North American professional ice hockey players -- unique to major professional team sport -- that supposedly renders them incapable of controlling themselves on the ice without fighting. However, fighting in hockey is not all rage and emotion -- there are specific times that players fight, i.e. to "pump up" the team, and gain momentum.
The unique condoning of fighting in ice hockey led to Rodney Dangerfield's joke "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out".
Despite its potentially negative consequences, some consider fighting skill as a measure of all-around hockey talent. Often a player who has made a Gordie Howe hat trick is praised for the rare combination of physical intensity and hockey talent.
[edit] The enforcer in hockey
In hockey, some players have the job of taking down the opposition by any means necessary (mainly by big hits or fighting). Such a player is sometimes referred to as an enforcer, among less flattering epithets. These enforcers -- especially in recent decades -- are typically marginal players who generally see limited time on the ice, often on the fourth line. They are often sent out after a "scrum" or after a star player has been checked particularly hard. Often both teams will put out an enforcer or tough guy at the same time.
The enforcer's role is generally to engage the offending opponent in (or provoke one into) a fight. Essentially a tactic of intimidation, it keeps particularly dirty teams in check by enacting direct consequences on an offending player. Another common application is to goad a star into a fight, so as to take a skilled player off the ice at the cost of a marginal one.
Possibly the most famous of all enforcers are the Hanson Brothers, the semi-fictional hockey pop-icons (based on the Carlson brothers of the Johnstown Jets and Minnesota Fighting Saints) from the movie Slap Shot starring Paul Newman. Notorious ones in NHL history include Matthew Barnaby, Sprague Cleghorn, Red Horner, Lou Fontinato, John Ferguson, Donald Brashear, Reggie Fleming, Dave Schultz, Chris Nilan, Joey Kocur, Rob Ray, Bob Probert, Tiger Williams, Marty McSorley, Tie Domi, and Georges Laraque.
With new rules changes for the 2004-05 AHL season (adopted by the NHL upon resumption of play following the lockout) placing a premium on power plays and fast action, the use of one-dimensional enforcers is going out of vogue, as teams feel they can neither risk unnecessary power plays nor afford a roster slot filled by an otherwise-unproductive player. Whether this leads to a permanent decrease in fighting, or simply the evolution of more versatile enforcers, as in previous eras, remains to be seen.
Some enforcers, especially in the minor leagues, become popular players and are typically the easiest fan favourite among spectators, creating a sense of a player's bonding with that city.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Rough House Hockey Discussion, articles and video clips about hockey fights and fighters, both past and present.
- hockeyfights.com Articles, videos, news and fight cards from the NHL and other pro and junior North American leagues.
- BroadStreetBully.com Thousands of hockey fight clips archived online.
- Hockey Fights and humorous commentary.
- Hockey Fights on Squidoo.
- Fight Ratings and Stats includes Junior leagues.
- Fried Chicken's Hockey Fights website
