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Ontario Hockey League (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The
Ontario Hockey League of the
Canadian Hockey League
has announced that starting this season the League is going to try and
limit fighting in their league. The OHL is also trying to remove the one
dimensional goon’s from it league and has enacted the following new
rules this season. While the Anti-pugilist are already cheering this new
rule change I think that it’s a bad idea - the NHL will be
monitoring the OHL's new rule change.
OHL rule:
1. If a player is assessed a fighting major
for the 11th to 15th time during the regular season, such player is
assessed an automatic two-game suspension for each additional fighting
major in addition to any other penalties assessed.
2. If a player is assessed a fighting major for the 16th time or more during the
regular season, such player is assessed an automatic two-game suspension
and the hockey club is fined $1,000 for each additional fighting major
in addition to any other penalties assessed.
3. If a player is deemed to be the instigator in any of the fights above the 10-game
threshold, such player would be assessed an automatic four-game
suspension in addition to any other penalties assessed.
Note: If a player is instigated upon, the fighting major is not included in the player's total number of fights
The reason that I think that limiting the amount of fighting in the OHL or
even the NHL is a bad rule - fighting in hockey keeps the players on the
ice honest and allows the players to police the game themselves in
stead of counting on the refs. Hockey is a very fast paced game and you
cant always count on the refs to make the right call either. In many
cases they won't.
Limiting fighting in one league is the first
step to an all out ban in all other levels of hockey both professionally
and in the junior ranks and I don't think that this is a road I would
like to see the NHL go down.
Could you imagine if hockey players of the
Matt Cooke
variety played the game of hockey without the fear of having to fight?
Players of Cooke's ilk would have the ability to skate all over the ice
taking liberties with other teams top players without the fear of
retribution, that would set a very bad precedence and you would probably
see an increase in head injures as well as random acts of
gratuitous violence.
If the two aforementioned leagues decided to
limit and or enact an all out ban on fighting you actually be putting
the players in worse danger than if you left the leagues the way it is.
Another
reason I think that this rule is bad is - players and coaching staffs
utilize the mediums available to them and they're familiar with stats -
it's available to them on the internet at the click of a mouse - also
the teams media people have the stats readily available to players and
coaches at a moments notice and they can research their opponents before
the game/series.
I also have a question, how did the OHL come to the number of 10 in the first place?
Let's
take this a little further; if you're a player from another team and
you know that a certain's team's tough guy or tough guys have already
have crossed the 10 or 11 fights threshold - the opposition better have
their head on a swivel - because those players are not going to want to
just drop the gloves and fight because they have reached that magic
numeric threshold of 10 fights. I don't know too many players that are
going to want to serve a two game suspension for each fight past their
10th fight.
I can see where this is going already, this has to
potential to put that teams star players safety in jeopardy later in the
season, because the opposition knows that there is probably less chance
of facing "any" retribution if they commit a questionable or dirty hit
against the other team's players. I could also see how this new rule
will probably lead to an increase in stick work as well.
I know
that the NHL would like to get rid of the staged fight, but what
actually constitutes a staged fight - the lines are blurred a bit and
how do we know that the staged fights don't serve a purpose also? I just
think in this situation that the status quo is fine the way it is.
Here is a tweet by
Nashville Predators tough guy Brian McGrattan that caught my eye this even. I think that there are going to be more
NHL players that probably hold this view than not.
Originally posted at the
Hockey Writers - Combine