[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Junior.

Sometimes you see fights in Midget, but they aren't very common (A few punches to the head with a full cage on I don't really consider to be a fight).

Junior is where helmets start to get ripped off and people really start going toe-to-toe.

IMO, this is where the biggest change needs to happen. There should be no joy taken from a crowd watching two under-age kids bareknuckle box on a slippery hard surface. Should be automatic suspensions for fighting, and fines to the team's management/coaches.

For the NHL, I really think more discretion should be given to the refs for what warrants a fight. They are on the ice, they hear the things said, they feel the tensions in the game.

- After a dirty hit: No instigator. Original penalty called to offending player plus 5 min majors for fighting.
- resulting from growing tensions in a scrum: 5 min majors for both.
- Off a draw or any "staged" fight: ejection and automatic 1 game suspension for both players and fine for coaches/management.

- Assaulting a player (AKA Darnell Nurse), or engaging a player in a fight for a legal play (clean hit): Game ejection and automatic 5 game suspension.

My reasoning: You will never get fighting completely out of the game. It will just happen, and those are the fights people enjoy and the ones that gets teammates pumped up. The staged fighting between goons really needs to go as does the assaults that take place after clean plays. Those are the things that should have very harsh punishments. And refs need to have more cojones to actually kick players out.

I actually think we have discussed this before, Matty and agreed on a lot of points.

I was at the Rebels v Hitmen game this weekend and the place went nuts when there was a fight. People forget that these are young kids.