Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
As much as I mildly enjoyed the Domi / Kesler fight due to my dislike for Kesler, if looking at that fight and the Hathaway fight, hard not to see in both instances Domi is trying very hard in both fights to gain a massive upper hand by starting to throw punches before his opponent is even ready. Some might say that's just smart tactic in a fight to land the first punch, but it doesn't fly with me for NHL scraps. Pretty cowardly IMO, especially when you are the aggressor. Square off and then try to land the first shot.
Totoo used to do the same thing, drove me nuts. Glad it didn't work with Hathaway.
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Well, is a fight. In both cases, Domi is quick to engage but I wouldn't go so far as to call it cheap. He's a little guy. Hathaway teed off on him anyway but I dont know that you can begrudge the smaller fighter for not waiting to accept his beating.
It should also be noted, linesmen are really quick to break up fights these days - when Ferland and Bieksa fought, they actually got the leeway to square up and circle in on each other. I'd forgotten how rare that is. My guess is they allowed it because everyone knew the history between the two.
Even in the Domi fight, it nearly turns into a line brawl because everyone wants to break it up after it's already started. I can see the NHL's logic in clamping down on the preamble, but I would argue that little buildup does a lot more for the safety of everyone than you might think.
When two guys square up, the teams don't rush in to intervene - they recognize their teammates have made a decision and let it play out. But if I'm a Coyote and I see Garnet Hathaway (who???) grabbing Max Domi in a bear hug, I'm not going to assume that's consensual. I'm going to assume some plug up from the minors is taking major liberties with my young star player. As a result, we see two Coyotes including Doan nearly take third man in penalities.
I don't like what they've done to fighting.