Hockey is a game of intimidation. A big part of intimidation is physical toughness. Fighting is a part of this. If you remove it completely the game is changed and we get something like basketball which seems to be what a lot of non fans want. The majority of hockey fans like a good scrap.
Another part of this is that players have traditionally policed their own game. This can be seen from the basic pick up game to the NHL. What we call goons used to be called policemen because they helped enforce the game so that a player or team didn't take advantage without paying a price. Today we now have two refs so that less is missed but still it isn't perfect and can never be despite all the video reviews. Myself I'm getting sick of the delays for video reviews for possible off sides etc and it will probably get worse. The NHL is trying to take the policing out of the players hands and it is succeeding to some extent but it's still a part of hockey and always will be for me.
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