Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
It served more of a purpose before they brought in the instigator rule. Now they are slowly getting rid of fighting by adding more and more caveats to the fights. The tough guys were more policemen out on the ice but now they are trying to regulate the game by cluttering it up with more rules.
|
I would argue that the increasing number of rules are in place because of the increasing number of pure enforcers, and by extension the higher frequency of tangential hockey fights (these are fights that occur separate from the development of the game, and are intended for inspiration of the team, or as part of the sub-component in which players fight to establish their own reputation). In my opinion, the "clutter" is not the rules, but these tangential fights themselves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
At one time the Euro leagues were the dirtiest around because they knew they could get away with their spears and crosschecks with at most a 2 minute penalty...
|
This is anecdotal. Do you have any evidence to support this claim? How does one measure "dirty"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
...whereas in NA, if you ran around like that you'd soon meet your maker.
|
I can agree that the presence of tough players and the threat of having to fight in retaliation for on-ice infractions once served a somewhat useful purpose. But things have changed dramatically since the seventies and eighties, and I am not convinced by anything that I watch in the game today that "policing" is all that necessary. At least not in the form into which it has evolved.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
...To me fighting is a part of the game. Some just take it to deeper lengths than others.
|
I am not sure what this last bit means. And I disagree that fighting
needs to be "part of the game." It has remained a part of the game because fans enjoy fighting, and because players and coaches believe in the voodoo. Without proof of the correlation—and
with positive proof from other hockey leagues where there is no perceptible impact in the level of danger or quality of play between the presence or absence of hockey fights, then I remain convinced that it is an unnecessary component without which the game will survive.