Thursday nights brawl between Ottawa and Buffalo further illustrates the games image issue in the United States. In a rare occurrence the NHL managed to get some coverage on ESPN, but it is only for a full-scale brawl between two teams. While personally I don’t have a real problem with fighting in the game, it is a turn off to many, and gives the sports detractors an easy cheap shot at any time.
Proponents of fighting will argue that it helps the players police their own and it is a vital part of the game. I would argue that skating, shooting and passing are much more vital to the game. As far as policing their own, it’s a simple solution; the league must do its own policing by crackdown on cheap shots and doling out extremely stiff penalties for hits with intent to injure and dangerous use of the stick. I would propose that the team also be penalized; if a player is suspended for intent to injure on the ice, then his team should not be able to replace that player on the roster for the duration of the suspension.
Peter Laviolette set a “no-fighting” edict for his Carolina Hurricanes in the playoffs and the end result was a Stanley Cup. In fact, fighting is rarely seen in the post-season, every hockey fans favorite time of the year. Change is not a bad thing, and that is something a lot of hockey fans have to embrace. The current product is struggling mightily in the U.S. market; enacting measures to protect star players and at the same time take away some ammo from detractors who have never been to a game could only be a good move for the league as a whole.
