Sadly, I wish this was a joke

[kosydar 0]

Just found out this happened at my rink earlier this year.

[Project824 0]

Just found out this happened at my rink earlier this year.

Shitshow league... it's pathetic that they're letting them and 9 billion other BAD teams call themselves Jr. A next year.

[Jason Harris 31]

Does it belong in our sport, yes...

Why?

Or put differently, why should hockey allow "organized" fighting, while all other teams sports don't even allow two guys to lose their cool without some repercussion?

[#96 0]

Does it belong in our sport, yes...

Why?

Or put differently, why should hockey allow "organized" fighting, while all other teams sports don't even allow two guys to lose their cool without some repercussion?

I think this came up before in another thread, the "why?" question.

Because it's our game. It's the history of the game: what it was, what it is, and what it should be. This game was founded on the frozen ponds of North America, mostly in Canada. It was a part of the "pioneering spirit" that you stuck up for yourself and your teammates.

Is it a bigone thing from a time long ago? Probably. Should rules be changed, yes. Should we take it completely out? No way. Like I said, this is our game. If you don't like, don't play, don't watch, or don't get involved when the gloves drop.

Not to mention, it is one of things that people identify with our sport. Should it be that? No, there is so much more going on. But the league is trying to draw new fans, and it's the "uneducated" fans that are looking for the hits and the fights. And you're trying to take that out? New fans have no idea about other things going on: the speed, finessse, playmaking.

Case in point (I may have used this story in that other post): I have a coworker that loves all sports. He even likes hockey and played when he was younger, and knows at least some things about the game. He goes to me one day, "Man did you see that Sabres Ottawa game? Those boys are quick! Wow, but I was just waiting for the hits! Man, I just wanted to see a fight." To me, that clearly exhibited the problem for the New NHL. Here is a sports fanatic, would love to go to a game, but all he cares about are the hits and fights. And he was watching Ottawa and Buffalo, two poster teams for the New NHL! Two teams the league would love to use to try and draw new fans the "skill" side. And the liberal geniuses at the New NHL are trying to take that element out! It's what they want, stupid!

Our game is doomed.

[mattzilla 0]

Does it belong in our sport, yes...

Why?

Or put differently, why should hockey allow "organized" fighting, while all other teams sports don't even allow two guys to lose their cool without some repercussion?

why does football allow you to pick up the ball and throw it but hockey doesnt?

its part of the game.

[J-Shera 0]

My friends brother went to the one in Regina, hes 14 and a top prospect for his age. At that age and at the top skill level fights are bound to happen. His dad put him in it and I think the camps a good idea, now he can protect himself when he moves up to high level midget and later in his career in Junior hockey. Its not a camp where the teach you to go out and swing for the fences, It teaches how to protect yourself, and how to position yourself so you dont get caught with a big shot.

[sabre09923 0]

/snip

Exactly. When I bring up hockey with my friends (obviously the ones that don't play hockey), all they bring up is the fighting. They say how the rest of the game is a bore, besides when 2 idiots decide to drop the gloves. And it's true even in the rest of the media. The only time I can recall hockey being mentioned on Around the Horn is when Fedoruk broke his glass jaw.

[Neilsen 0]

thats bull

hockey isnt about fighting!!!

you should just play the game!!!

i hate it when people think that its all about fighting cause its not at all. it may be a small part but people that fight just cant controll themselves.

[Doctor Hook 0]

New meaning to the term "cage fight".

[mattzilla 0]

thats bull

hockey isnt about fighting!!!

you should just play the game!!!

i hate it when people think that its all about fighting cause its not at all. it may be a small part but people that fight just cant controll themselves.

Its not ALL about the fighting, but its definitely part of the game. Like it or not, its part of hockey.

[Jason Harris 31]

Does it belong in our sport, yes...

Why?

Or put differently, why should hockey allow "organized" fighting, while all other teams sports don't even allow two guys to lose their cool without some repercussion?

why does football allow you to pick up the ball and throw it but hockey doesnt?

its part of the game.

I believe the NHL is one of the few leagues that does not give suspensions for fighting, so it's not so much a part of the game as it is a part of the NHL.

I loved fighting as kid, and I'm quite a bit older than most of you, so I saw bench clearing brawls all the time. 40-50 pairs of gloves on the ice and four goalies fighting on the ice. Man, I loved it. But then I got older and realized that too much of it is staged. Not in the sense that WWF is staged, but when two enforcers are sent out and know they are supposed to drop their gloves as the puck is dropped, that's a staged fight.

If one guy wants to fight another in a game because he felt the other had cheap shotted him, I don't think it's any different than a batter charging a pitcher he feels has thrown at him. However, the batter knows he will be ejected and, likely, suspended. That's not the case with the NHL, so they realize that the NHL tacitly approves of their fighting.

Does the crowd get into it? Absolutely. Does it hurt the NHL's image? Absolutely. Too many people still believe that's what the NHL is about and they aren't willing to learn that they are misinformed. Just as 96's friend was disappointed to watch a game without fighting, because that's what he thought hockey offered, my wife once told me she was glad I had turned her on to hockey -- she never bothered to watch it, because she had heard it was only a bunch of fights.

So, from the NHL's perspective, the important question is who is the potentially larger market? The sports fanatics that want to see fights or those who are too timid to give the NHL a try because they think it's a bunch of thugs? Clearly, the latter group is larger, but maybe the former group is a more realistic target. Nonetheless, if I was the NHL, I'd shoot for the latter group because they could ultimately bring greater TV ratings.

[BTMLB5 0]

Think this one might have that beat by just a little...

i was at that game it was amazing

[Chadd 916]

Think this one might have that beat by just a little...

i was at that game it was amazing

Don't make me dig up some Probert videos.

[hunterphfr 12]

I'm not going to get into the part of the game argument. Regardless of the level of play or the level of tolerance in different leagues it can and will occur at all levels. The only thing that varies is frequency, intensity and the speed with wich the refs will intervene. In a lot of cases the higher the level of play the greater the frequency.

15-20 minutes searching through youtube and you can find fights at all levels of play. From young children, midget, Canadian and American high school, NCAA, Canadian University, all levels of junior, european and obviously the NHL. You can even find adult rec hockey fight videos.

A quick search can also produce fights at all the same levels for other sports, including some non-contact ones. ie: baseball, basketball, lacrosse, football.

Suspensions in most of the levels of hockey and lacrosse can result in suspension and is almost automatic for the other 3 sports at all levels. But guess what it still happens.

I am neither condoning nor condeming fighting simply saying it can happen. What happens if several fights are happening at once and the refs are tied up and unable to intervene. I would like my son to be prepared.

Hell didn't you guys see Youngblood?

[Chadd 916]

Kids who are confident in their ability to fight are more likely to fight. In most cases, these guys are going to be looking for a chance to show off their new "skills"

[mattzilla 0]

Don't make me dig up some Probert videos.

hahaha, that guy was amazing.

i'll assume youve seen the video of odjick running wild around the ice punching at everything?

[hockeyherb 1]

You guys are ALL missing the real benefit of this camp.

I grew up in Regina, and believe me, if you found yourself downtown after dark, these are exactly the kind of skills you need to make it home safe. Any advantage applied to hockey is just a bonus.

[mattzilla 0]

You guys are ALL missing the real benefit of this camp.

I grew up in Regina, and believe me, if you found yourself downtown after dark, these are exactly the kind of skills you need to make it home safe. Any advantage applied to hockey is just a bonus.

i think youre putting it on too broad of a scale here.

it is hockey fighting camp. for fights in hockey. not street fights.

[vcx 0]

Hockey has fighting in it, deal with it. If the fighters follow the code, then great. Sometimes you just have to drop the gloves and stick up for a team mate or drop the gloves to shut a goon or pest up.

People say there is no place for a goon but Avery was vital to the rangers 1st round and Neil was a huge part of the Sens run as well as guys like Kunitz, Penner and what not on the ducks and let's not forget May. Goons are agitators, they are learning to play the game a little more now and are rounding their entire style of play out.

Derek and Aaron want to teach kids, fine, if there were people that thought it was stupid, they wouldn't have come up with the idea with a bunch of clients. I'm betting they are teaching a lot of kids that get beat up on in the youth leagues.

When i played Bantam B for the first time, i got in to a fight with some players from revelstoke, the guy didn't like my skin colour so he figured lets pick on him, i handled myself properly but i can see why a parent would want his son to know how to stand up to the guy and not get beat and then have it mess with the kid's mind when he goes out and sees any physical play.

People seem to want to whine and cry about fighting any chance they get, they will find their reasons, i'll just look at them like the bums i see downtown vancouver and be on my merry way.

You guys are ALL missing the real benefit of this camp.

I grew up in Regina, and believe me, if you found yourself downtown after dark, these are exactly the kind of skills you need to make it home safe. Any advantage applied to hockey is just a bonus.

i think youre putting it on too broad of a scale here.

it is hockey fighting camp. for fights in hockey. not street fights.

People won't care as long as they see fighting, they will throw their hands up in disgust like they know what they are talking about, most of the people that hate fighting in hockey have never played the game, or have on some street hockey level but never ice hockey or in an organized league let alone a semi-pro or professional one.

I've played the game for 20 years and still do, as well as minor league coaching, fights happen from Bantam to midget and as you go higher, you see it more. If you don't teach someone how to protect themself, you'll see a lot of turtling and guys getting hurt by getting beaten up by a tougher opponent, learning how to handle yourself on the ice in a fight is a good thing to know.

You fall awkward and hurt yourself, not a good thing, you learn balance and how to at least defend yourself. What are you going to do, tell the kids, hey if he punches you, just let him..fighting is wrong. Yeah and being a punchingbag is even worse in ice hockey...the ice is not the most softest of surfaces to fall on without a helmet.

Fighting is fine, as long as it's monitored and stopped when it starts to get way out of hand. The times i've fought, were times i completely nailed a guy open ice and he wanted to drop the gloves because he didn't like it, times like that i just tug on the jersey and take him down to risk injury. Then there are times a guy will drop the gloves and feels he needs to address his team's momentum through it, you see this more in the NHL throughout it's history.

People act like fighting was never apart of the game, Gordie Howe fought, Maurice Richard fought...it was apart of the game. The moment men put on ice skates and grabbed a stick and had a little black disc to use and bumping occured, fighting was inevitable. There are idiots that take it too far and bait people and then get owned, they are just asking for it. And as for fighting in hockey, most people aren't disturbed by it in games, it's usually not the fighting on the ice that gets the attention, its the idiotic fathers in the stands that makes people put their arms up in rage. Or when a guy gets owned in a fight and gets hurt, like Fedoruk on more than one occasion this past season, but if you ask him if he wish he didn't fight, he'd say no.