Kale Kessy severely injured in AHL fight- is it time to stop the music?

[Monahammer]

I know Ken Campbell has long been on the other side of this debate, but this incident is scary and does show how a standard fight where everyone is respecting the code can still go horribly wrong.

https://thehockeynews.com/news/artic...-this-insanity

So, is it time to end fighting? If tkachuk had been injured in a pointless fight this year in a similar manner I would undoubtedly be in favor of ditching fighting. Should it matter that it hasnt happened to a person we care about yet?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Of course it is.
Can someone explain to me the logic of a physical altercation where you are engaging in actions designed to hurt that person, but not hurt them THAT badly.
He punches Kessy to the ice and then immediately calls for help.
Yeah man - when you punch someone and cause them to fall to the ice - there's a chance they could ACTUALLY get hurt. WTF

I mean it's just silly, reckless and unnecessary.

And it WILL be eliminated at some point. We all know that.
So let's just cut to the chase and do it now.

At some point, say in 10 years, we will look back and wonder how on earth it was still allowed, much in the same way we marvel at how players used to play without helmets.
What's appalling is that we now know enough about brain injuries that there is NO reason why the logical steps haven't already been taken to eliminate fighting.

It's the great embarrassment of the sport I love.

[troutman]

Yes

[btimbit]

The AHL just needs to catch up to the NHL in eliminating goons. I like fighting, but I'm glad there's way less guys that turned to fighting even though they didn't want too just because they thought it was the only way to stand out and move up.

[Split98]

Fighting is an interesting one to me. While it's definitely dangerous, the whole sport is.

But I find this approach to be a bit much

So those of you who are still comfortable watching a player get stretchered off the ice with an oxygen mask over his face, I have one question for you. Y’all know somebody is going to die in a hockey fight someday, right? It might be tonight. It might be this weekend. It might be 10 years from now, but it will happen.

Are we going to let players hit this hard?
Are we going to let players skate this fast?
Are we going to let players shoot this hard?
Are we going to let players play without cages?
Are we going to let players play without neck-guards?

I couldn't agree more that someday 2 men chucking fists at each other standing on ice could turn into a fatality... but so can multiple factors that go into the game

The point, and we can discuss it without the hysteria of death, is... was it part of the game? In cases like this one, I believe the answer is no.

Fighting being allowed in the game seems necessary sometimes when things boil over. A lot is happening out there and a lot of player safety relies on respect. If a hard hit, the scoreboard, or the refs aren't earning that respect... a good punch in the chops is an effort to take control. But a fight for giggles or to 'turn the momentum' can go in my opinion.

Problem is... how? If you remove fighting, you better make sure you're officiating the game a lot better than you are now or I fear that you'll see a lot more liberties taken on the ice. So those of you who are still comfortable watching a player get stretchered off the ice with an oxygen mask over his face, I have one question for you. Y’all know somebody is going to die from a dirty elbow someday, right?

[Ozy_Flame]

It's gotta go. In an age of MMA as a high profile mainstream sport, hockey doesn't need to keep pace. It's dangerous and not the point of the game itself. Big, well-placed and timely hits can accomplish just as much - if not more - entertainment value than two guys opening up the concussion cans on each other. Remember the Sarich hit on Marleau? I think most fans remember that more than they remember any one particular fight.

I think it's time for it to be fully banned.

[Inglewood Jack]

how do players in other equally or even more physical sports (i.e. football) blow off steam or enforce respect for the game when they're not allowed to punch opponents into submission?

[flambers]

I doubt it, I can't see the player's union accepting the rule change to ban fighting.

However the game is changing, fighting is becoming less common.

At some point it will become a thing of the past.

However I doubt it be banned from the game,

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by flambers

I doubt it, I can't see the player's union accepting the rule change to ban fighting.

However the game is changing, fighting is becoming less common.

At some point it will become a thing of the past.

However I doubt it be banned from the game,

This. Fighting will be gone but it'll be because the game will get more skilled and as time goes on there will be less and less willing combatants

[GordonBlue]

you're going to have to force charge on the players.
I don't think the end of fighting is going to come from them. the attitude is more like the following from the column.

"Four months prior to that, an AHL fight ended in a one-punch knockout when Colby Cave of the Bakersfield Condors knocked out Martin Pospisil of the Stockton Heat. Pospisil said shortly after the fight that he was looking forward to redeeming himself in a rematch. "


A remember a friend of mine deciding she was against fighting. She's a season ticket holder for the Oil Kings and she remembers one game standing up and cheering for a fight.
it suddenly occurred to her that she's cheering for two teenagers (not much younger than her son ) to beat the crap out of each other, and it seemed very wrong.

[btimbit]

^ The AHL is still a few years behind the NHL in that regard, but just look how much fighting has gone down hill the last 7 years in the big league. The AHL will catch up as players realize there are better ways to make themselves stand out

[The Hendog]

Phase fighting out in the junior and the lower levels just like how they phased in visors and rules changes in the lower levels etc.

Time will pass, younger players will grow up and develop in leagues without fighting and then it will just be gone in the pros to. Older players that still fight will phase out etc. like is already happening but this will help formalize and speed up the process.

[activeStick]

From Iginla:

"Does fighting still have a place in today's NHL? My answer is a qualified yes," Iginla wrote in this week's issue. "I temper my response because I don't know of any player who truly loves fighting. Ideally it would not be a part of the game. But the nature of our sport is such that fighting actually curtails many dirty plays that could result in injuries."

[Makarov]

I don't know that fighting will ever be totally eliminated, but the culture and rules of the sport need to tolerate fighting far less (to the point that it becomes an exceptional event - similar to other team sports).

[Canada 02]

I'm surprised the refs/linesmen didn't jump in before the fight when the players removed their helmets. Thought that wasn't allowed

[FlamesFanTrev]

Simple to get rid of an injury like this from fighting. 10 and 2 games for removing your hat, or removing someone's else's hat. Nobody wants to fight a guy wearing a helmet, it's tough on the hands. If guys want to chuck knuckles, at least with a helmet on, the danger from A KO punch causing injury by the "victim" smashing their head on the ice is mitigated.

I put quotes around victim because there were two willing combatants here, and both knew the risks while they were still circling each other. And I agree with Iggy, fighting causes guys to be accountable for their actions. If I thought the refs were capable of actually calling cheapshots on a regular basis then I would say let them enforce the rules properly and eliminate fighting altogether. But I have seen time and time again how blind that type of justice can be.

[dissentowner]

I am fine with fighting being removed from hockey. That way whenever someone lands a bone crushing beauty of a hit the guy doesn't have to drop his mitts. I think a lot of big hits are not thrown anymore because the person laying the hit is going to have to fight.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by activeStick

From Iginla:

"Does fighting still have a place in today's NHL? My answer is a qualified yes," Iginla wrote in this week's issue. "I temper my response because I don't know of any player who truly loves fighting. Ideally it would not be a part of the game. But the nature of our sport is such that fighting actually curtails many dirty plays that could result in injuries."

So players feel the need to protect themselves because the league doesn't do it sufficiently. The league should be taking comments like these very seriously.

[goflamesgo18]

If you remove fighting at that level then you have to think about removing hitting too. Too many cheap runs will be taken without worry of consequence.

I believe with hitting there is definitely still a place for fighting And these guys know the risks.... if you dont want to fight, THEN DONT!

[sempuki]

This wouldn't have happened the way it did if they left their helmets on. Why is this still allowed in the AHL?

Ice to the back of the head is way more dangerous than a fist to the front. And broken hands are better than a broken brain.