Quote:
Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz
First, you don't think pests exist in other contact sports, of course they do.
Scrums don't happen in other sports? Of course they do.
What about women's hockey, or International hockey? No fighting in that, but there are still scrums and bumping goalies etc. Why can they make it work? Is the reffing in women's hockey or the world championships better than the NHL? If so, why aren't we hiring them?
As for pests, is what they are doing illegal or against the rules?
Do you want to change the rules so bumping goalies and shoving after a whistle are penalties, and are those really the things that cause fights?
Honestly, how often does a guy like Marchand fight?
That's what makes pests so effective and annoying to play against. They aren't getting away with anything, because what they are doing isn't against the rules, or isn't bad enough to rise to being a penalty.
Almost the only time we see fights these days is after big clean hits, or staged fights, both of which I'd say most people think are stupid.
Heck your example about a receiver getting laid out with a hit to the head doesn't even hold up.
In the NHL you head shot a guy, and you're out of the game, but often you have to punch/get punched in the face by some other guy first.
The only barrier to taking fights out of hockey are the people who can't really see that the only purpose of keeping fights, is keeping fights.
There is nothing special about hockey that makes fighting a requirement
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There kinda is - in hockey, they have weapons.
If a guy is slashing, cross checking, whatever - do you want the other guy to swing his stick at him or his fist?
There’s too many little hacks and slashes throughout a game of hockey to call
All of them. And that builds up. There’s millions of dollars and years of fame and glory on the line. These are high stakes hockey games.
“Just don’t do it”, “wait for the ref to make a call” - okay. Easy to say when you’re not getting slashed.
And while fights gone wrong are terrible to see, I don’t think even the Burtuzzi incident was more disturbing than Alexander Perezhogin nearly murdering that dude in the goal crease.
Players like it. Fans like it in the right contexts.
Account for it, at the pro level.