Fighting in Hockey

First off that is a great fight. I stumbled across this clip on Chris Dilk's Western College Hockey 2. Chris is questioning whether fighting has a place in Hockey.

Personally I think that If a players knows he has to fight if he committed an egregious act, actually polices the game of hockey and keeps that players honest. If I whack player "A" or commit an act of thuggery I know that I am going to have to look over my shoulder. I know sooner or later that a goon/though guy is going to be there to re-arrange my face, while it sounds like frontier justice it's worked in the NHL for year. If actions have consequences I am going to mind my P's and Q's. It's called the code and is used to police the game and keep players honest. I believe that because of the lack of fighting in college hockey the game is actually more dirty.

If the NCAA wanted to clean up the college game i.e. the stick work, running the goalie and the acts of thuggery in college hockey; I would suggest getting rid of the full face shield and game disqualification penalty. I think that if a player only received a game misconduct for fighting college hockey, the players could police the game and get rid of the face washes and stick work. If a player has consequences for egregious acts and he knows what he does on the ice has consequences he is going to be less apt to be a hack...