Fighting in Men's League Hockey

[IPv6Freely 2094]

So you're self professed worst skater in the league, in a beginners league, and you "Chirp an old man all night", Take off your gloves and helmet to draw someone into a fight, and then claim fighting s stupid?

I haven't fought on the ice in many years but guys that want to act tough occasionally need a butt kicking. I have invited youngsters with your attitude to meet me at the gym and step into the ring with me.

You might try telling your opponents something like, "great move last shift" instead of chirping. Otherwise you risk a serious beating either fighting or a cheap shot behind the play. Many "old guys" played a lot of years of full contact and know how to inflict a lot of pain. Guys that came to the game late often skate with their head down, especially at your level. Chirping and talking crap might get painful.

MMk. Anyway, yes fighting in mens league is obviously stupid... I agree, the wannabe tough guys get what they deserve on occasion. I'm a pretty quiet player (mostly because of my skill level), so it takes quite a bit for me to say anything. This guy was an idiot.

Me taking the gloves and helmet off was more of a "screw it, everyone else is going, i might as well too". Heat of the moment. Very stupid indeed.

I think more than anything my post was just to admit how much adrenaline plays a part in fighting... I couldn't have ever imagined that scenario actually happening, until it did.

[Hoopster 0]

Fighting is frowned upon in my league, I think you'll get a 3 game ban for dropping the gloves. That's fine as long as everyone just plays the game, however I find that you do get some idiots for whom the best thing for them would be to get a swift punch in the jaw. Perfect example... we had a game a few weeks ago, our league is meant to be non-contact, whatever that means, I think some contact is allowed but these guys were certainly throwing their weight around. Anyway, I can live with that but our goalie came out to play the puck, and this big half wit absolutely drilled him. Now I'm no fighter but I was so outraged that I vaulted the barrier straight away, my team started shouting at me to get back off the ice and I thought 'what the hell am I going to do here?' I don't want to just essentially throw money away as I then can't play but that really angered me. I firmly believe that if he knew he was gonna get a slap then he may have thought twice about it, he was just taking a liberty here; at least we should be allowed to stick up for our teammate. Upshot of it all was that this idiot, their captain no less, gets a 2 minute penalty! I don't think that's on, the refs should have some leeway with calls dependent upon the situation. Still we beat them by a solitary goal that night, and absolutely stuffed them on the return game, sweet revenge.

[hockeymass 11]

Fighting is frowned upon in my league, I think you'll get a 3 game ban for dropping the gloves. That's fine as long as everyone just plays the game, however I find that you do get some idiots for whom the best thing for them would be to get a swift punch in the jaw. Perfect example... we had a game a few weeks ago, our league is meant to be non-contact, whatever that means, I think some contact is allowed but these guys were certainly throwing their weight around. Anyway, I can live with that but our goalie came out to play the puck, and this big half wit absolutely drilled him. Now I'm no fighter but I was so outraged that I vaulted the barrier straight away, my team started shouting at me to get back off the ice and I thought 'what the hell am I going to do here?' I don't want to just essentially throw money away as I then can't play but that really angered me. I firmly believe that if he knew he was gonna get a slap then he may have thought twice about it, he was just taking a liberty here; at least we should be allowed to stick up for our teammate. Upshot of it all was that this idiot, their captain no less, gets a 2 minute penalty! I don't think that's on, the refs should have some leeway with calls dependent upon the situation. Still we beat them by a solitary goal that night, and absolutely stuffed them on the return game, sweet revenge.

I think it's really on the refs to make sure meathead play gets punished, more so than in contact leagues. They shouldn't let people get away with running tendys.

[IniNew 53]

I think it's really on the refs to make sure meathead play gets punished, more so than in contact leagues. They shouldn't let people get away with running tendys.

Your definition (and often that of the Defensemen of the goalie that got "run") of running a goaltender is typically different than a refs.

[shotty 7]

any mens league that doesn't have a zero tolerance for fighting is essentially asking for trouble. you should always expect 5 and a game, and you should almost expect a suspension or ban. when it comes down to it though, it's pretty much at the ref's discretion on what and how he calls a fight: i've been in a situation or two where i thought i was about to fight, only to find myself with helmet and gloves off and the other player skating backwards away from me. in the league i play in, the rules state that as soon as the gloves come off, its considered fighting and its punishable to the same standards as an actual fight. the worst i ever got in that circumstance was 2 minutes for roughing. i've also seen two guys go at it and not even fighting penalties. on the other hand, there have been a fair number of fights that i've witnessed and seen 2 game suspension for both fighters. the thing about fighting is that you never know what is going to happen both to your own (and your opponent's) health and well being or to the future of your recreational hobby... if you have to go down that road more than once, i think the league will consider you a liability.

[technophile 0]

Even if it was allowed — Fighting in beer league is retarded. Most guys wear cages. Punching a cage is dumb on your part. Most guys don't even drop their gloves, it's a tugging and pulling match with a punch or two thrown.

We had this happen in our game last Sunday; other team is winning 5-1, but for some reason one guy on their team was being a total dickbag. He crosschecked me from behind into the boards (because I took the puck away from him and passed it up). When he got out of the box for that, he took a run at one of my teammates, then tossed off his gloves and started throwing punches. My teammate, wearing a full cage, bear hugged him and waited for the 2 refs to step in. Ref #1, who plays for the college team, grabs dickbag and puts him in a headlock, dragging him to the ground... as the guy is still punching my teammate in the cage.

After that stellar decision, as he's being guided off the ice, he starts screaming all sorts of stupid shit at my teammate's (~8 year old) son, his wife, and pretty much the rest of the audience.

After the game he nearly went for it with the guy on my team who does UFC for fun.

I mean, you really have to question the decision making of a guy who, up 5-1 in a rec league game, decides that the best way to end the night is with a 10, at least a 1 game suspension, and the very real possibility of getting his shit kicked in by someone.

[IPv6Freely 2094]

I think it's really on the refs to make sure meathead play gets punished, more so than in contact leagues. They shouldn't let people get away with running tendys.

^ This. It's amazing how often things escalate just because the refs didn't control the game. I understand that beer league refs don't make much and really shouldn't have to deal with this garbage, but these games start getting chippy sometimes, and the refs really lose control the longer they let things slide.

[DBear 0]

^This. It's amazing how often things escalate just because the refs didn't control the game.

While exceedingly stupid the couple of times I've see fighting break out in a men's league have been a

direct result of the refs losing control of a game. At some point if the ref isn't protecting players you have to protect your self.

I don't condone it but I've seen it happen.

[Chadd 916]

any mens league that doesn't have a zero tolerance for fighting is essentially asking for trouble. you should always expect 5 and a game, and you should almost expect a suspension or ban. when it comes down to it though, it's pretty much at the ref's discretion on what and how he calls a fight: i've been in a situation or two where i thought i was about to fight, only to find myself with helmet and gloves off and the other player skating backwards away from me. in the league i play in, the rules state that as soon as the gloves come off, its considered fighting and its punishable to the same standards as an actual fight. the worst i ever got in that circumstance was 2 minutes for roughing. i've also seen two guys go at it and not even fighting penalties. on the other hand, there have been a fair number of fights that i've witnessed and seen 2 game suspension for both fighters. the thing about fighting is that you never know what is going to happen both to your own (and your opponent's) health and well being or to the future of your recreational hobby... if you have to go down that road more than once, i think the league will consider you a liability.

Our league used to have a ten game suspension for fighting and we never had a single fight during that time. We had plenty of punches and gloves dropped but none of the refs would call it a fight because they didn't think someone should be suspended ten games. Three to five games for a first offense seems reasonable with escalating punishment for repeat offenders.

^ This. It's amazing how often things escalate just because the refs didn't control the game.

Referees can't control a game, all they can do is call penalties. The players lose control of themselves and look for someone else to blame. If guys are on the ice to play hockey, you won't have any problems.

[maniacaniac 2]

Referees can't control a game, all they can do is call penalties. The players lose control of themselves and look for someone else to blame. If guys are on the ice to play hockey, you won't have any problems.

I have to disagree on this. We've had several games where the refs weren't calling anything so the small slash turned into a bigger slash later in the game. As the bigger slash got let go, the tempers and chippy play started flare up. Before you know it somebody's getting run and then a fight breaks out.

I've also had games where the minute the refs felt like things were getting a little too nasty they started handing out penalties like they were candy. Most of the time in these situations once the first unsportsmanlike or 10 minute misconduct got handed down, the game would settle down.

[Chadd 916]

I have to disagree on this. We've had several games where the refs weren't calling anything so the small slash turned into a bigger slash later in the game. As the bigger slash got let go, the tempers and chippy play started flare up. Before you know it somebody's getting run and then a fight breaks out.

I've also had games where the minute the refs felt like things were getting a little too nasty they started handing out penalties like they were candy. Most of the time in these situations once the first unsportsmanlike or 10 minute misconduct got handed down, the game would settle down.

The refs weren't slashing people or escalating the situation, it was the players. Don't get me wrong, I agree that a ref calling a game poorly can allow things to escalate out of control. You simply can't say that the official is the only one at fault. I've seen games where officials were calling penalties from the first faceoff and there were still fights and match penalties. Officials can influence how a game is played, they can not control it.

[DBear 0]

Officials can influence how a game is played, they can not control it.

That is exactly what I was trying to say. They set the tone.

[Hoopster 0]

Your definition (and often that of the Defensemen of the goalie that got "run") of running a goaltender is typically different than a refs.

How so, what would a ref's definition be?

[iceNsteel 0]

I think the best way I've seen this dealt with is fighting was an automatic 10 game suspension for the first fight, life time for the second. The team(s) would also be fined $100 per incident of fighting. Never saw so much as a scuffle in that league. Hitting the pocket book is really the best way to make people consider doing stupid crap in a beer league game, combine with peer policing, and you've got a pretty fool proof plan.

[Chadd 916]

I think the best way I've seen this dealt with is fighting was an automatic 10 game suspension for the first fight, life time for the second. The team(s) would also be fined $100 per incident of fighting. Never saw so much as a scuffle in that league. Hitting the pocket book is really the best way to make people consider doing stupid crap in a beer league game, combine with peer policing, and you've got a pretty fool proof plan.

As i said earlier, when we had a mandatory ten game suspension there wasn't a single fight call. There were plenty of fights, but they were all "roughing" penalties. In fact, a match penalty for an attempt to injure is only 30 days, much less severe than a ten game suspension if you play once a week.

[wrangler 157]

Didn't it ever get to the point where a ref warned both benches, and told them the next one would be called a fight, and then followed through on it?

This reminds me of years ago when the DWI penalties got very stiff here, and the conviction rate went down.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

I've noticed longer suspensions have resulted in a ref's reluctance to call it a fighting penalty, but it has deterred fighting to an extent.

[cooperalls 4]

I think the fine/suspension combo is a good deterrent. I play in a league that issue a series of increasing fines/suspensions for fighting.

1st offense -1 game+$25

2nd offense - 3 games+$50

3rd offense - banned from league.

[Chadd 916]

Didn't it ever get to the point where a ref warned both benches, and told them the next one would be called a fight, and then followed through on it?

This reminds me of years ago when the DWI penalties got very stiff here, and the conviction rate went down.

Nope, with certain refs guys knew they could get away with it and really took advantage of the fact they weren't going to get anything more than matching minors. Even if they were the only one throwing punches.

[hockeymass 11]

Your definition (and often that of the Defensemen of the goalie that got "run") of running a goaltender is typically different than a refs.

I don't even know what this means. There should really be minimal goaltender contact in a beer league. If the goalie's getting run over when coming out to play the puck, that's crap.

[supa 3]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

9/10 times its the absolute shittiest players that want to scrap in a beer league game

[Vulcan7905 88]

I don't even know what this means. There should really be minimal goaltender contact in a beer league. If the goalie's getting run over when coming out to play the puck, that's crap.

What about the goalie that actually starts crap? I play beer league and I had no fun at all last night because our goalie is a dick bag. He intentionally kept getting penalties and trying to start a fight with the other team. If he had gotten one more penalty, he would have been gone for the game. I think our team would have loved that since one of us was sitting for him all the time.

[hockeymass 11]

What about the goalie that actually starts crap? I play beer league and I had no fun at all last night because our goalie is a dick bag. He intentionally kept getting penalties and trying to start a fight with the other team. If he had gotten one more penalty, he would have been gone for the game. I think our team would have loved that since one of us was sitting for him all the time.

That's really dumb, but goalies like that are pretty rare in my experience.

[IPv6Freely 2094]

Referees can't control a game, all they can do is call penalties. The players lose control of themselves and look for someone else to blame. If guys are on the ice to play hockey, you won't have any problems.

I agree, I just wish when a game got chippy the refs would simply say "that kind of behavior will not be tolerated" by calling penalties. The fights happen when they don't, and things escalate. There's no question its ultimately the players being idiots, I just think the refs have the ability to put a stop to it and often don't.

[1stOverall 0]

If two guys are both willing to fight in beer league who gives a fuck, bang your stick when its done and go back to playing puck. Its when retards jump other players that bothers me