Are Hockey Fights Going the Way of the Dodo Bird?

Check out this article. Some good points.

Windsor Star -- As one of the few Wings who does fight – Abdelkader and Brendan Smith are the only current Detroit players with a fighting major this season – he views the frightening video as another potential nail in the coffin for the future of hockey fights.

“I think there could be a place for fighting as far as just policing the guys,” Abdelkader said. “It’s the after the whistle stuff, the different things that can go on.

“At the same time, no one really needs to fight anymore. I just think you’re seeing less and less of it. Players are more skilled and focused on playing (well) on the ice than going out and fighting. You’re not seeing a fourth line that’s full of guys that are going to go out and fight.”

In Detroit’s most recent game, no Red Wing challenged Philadelphia’s Ryan White after he was assessed a match penalty for a head shot on Detroit’s Tomas Jurco and Wings’ coach Jeff Blashill accepted that development as a reality of the way the game is played today.

The other night, San Diego Gulls forward Brian McGrattan was knocked out in a fight with Daniel Maggio of the San Antonio Rampage. For now, fighting is allowed in the National Hockey league and in the American Hockey League game.

But for how long?

Most Junior hockey league have done everything they can to limit the number of fights a player can be involved in during the course of a season. The OHL has a 10-fight limit. After a player reaches 10 in a season, he's subject to stiffer disciplinary action. In other words, fight 11-15 are rewarded with a two-game suspension.

College hockey banned fighting many years ago.

If you watched the fight in question, you know it was an ugly incident. None of us ever want to see player get hurt on the ice. The McGrattan incident will give anti-fighting cabal the necessary ammo it needs to push for a fighting ban in all levels of hockey. Actually, these incidents will give credence to their argument.



In today’s salary cap NHL, teams can’t afford to carry one-dimensional players on their roster. They don’t have that luxury. Teams can’t afford to have a player that plays four shifts a game and sits on the end of the bench huffing and puffing at people. They need players that can score goals, kill penalties and chew up minutes.

Players that can fight and play hockey have greater value and still have a role in the NHL. See L.A. Kings forward Milan Lucic.

Doesn't look good for Shawn Thornton

I going to predict that that this isn't going to end well for Boston Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton. Now, it's just a matter of how long the suspension is going to be... That discussion will happen on Monday.

Again, it doesn't matter that Brooks Orpik caught Loui Erikkson with a questionable, late, high-hit early in the game. The hit in question sent the Bruins forward to the locker room with a concussion. That's his second concussion of the season. None of that matters.

The Department of Player Safety won't look at that, when they make their decision on Monday. What they will look at; Thornton attacked a guy while he laid on the ice. That's not acceptable behavior in any league.

Shawn Thornton has a hearing and will not be traveling with the team to Toronto ^CS— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 8, 2013

s/t puck daddy... Shawn Thornton said this, in an ESPN interview recently.

DOES THE CODE STILL EXIST? IS THAT SOMETHING YOU TAKE PRIDE IN/ABIDE BY?

I take a lot of pride in that. I do. People could probably criticize that I’m a little too honorable, I suppose, in some instances. I've been a firm believer my whole life that what goes around comes around. If you’re one of those guys that suckers someone when they’re down or you go after somebody that doesn’t deserve it or isn’t the same category as you, that will come back and bite you at some point, too. I also take a lot of pride in the fact that I can play 8-12 minutes a night. I’ve had to work extremely hard on that part of my game to bring more to the table than just fighting. That’s part of my game, but I can do a lot more.

There's some good news for Boston Bruins fans. NHL announces Pittsburgh forward James Neal to have a phone hearing Monday with the NHL's Department of Players Safety. A phone hearing means that Neil won't be suspended more than five-games.

Lastly, I was reading the one of the local Pittsburgh Newspapers and this is what they have to say on the matter. James Neil doesn't sound very contrite for his bush league kneeing incident on Brad Marchand.   For the record, Neil has been suspended before.

Rob Rossi, Trib Live -- About four minutes passed before Penguins captain Sidney Crosby tripped Bruins winger Brad Marchand near the Boston bench. Neal skated past and clipped Marchand in the head with his knee.

“I was skating by him,” Neal said, noting he had not seen a replay of his hit, which resulted in a minor penalty for kneeing. “I hit him in the head with my leg or my foot or my knee or my shin area; I don't know. He went down. I guess I need to try and avoid him.

“I need to be more careful and get my knee out of the way. I'm not trying to hit him in the head or injure him or anything like that.”

Marchand said he “could not comment” on Neal's hit.

Bylsma said Neal “didn't make an attempt to get out of the way on Marchand.”

And Now for Something Completely Different (RW77)

Ok, it's not often that I go off on a tangent... ok, that's a lie, but still...

Today I went to my first ever USHL game. It was between Omaha and Lincoln. It was a fun time and it featured all kinds of hockey. Good hockey, Bad hockey, stupid hockey, questionable hockey, and two fat guys carrying flags running (ok, waddling) around the arena (ok, 4 or 5 sections worth before they got tired and gave up) after a goal.

I went because it would be a fun time, but I also got to see two future UND players in Luke Johnson (Lincoln's #27) and Paul Ladue (Lincoln's #6). But let's go with what I saw before I run down those two.

The First Period was a period of great goaltending by Lincoln and Omaha, great forechecking by Omaha, and pretty solid defense on both sides. Lincoln's Goaltender was better than Omaha's in the first period based upon the fact that Lincoln had to stop 2 clean breakaways and a 2 on 1 in the last 10 minutes of the first period. Omaha was tested but not to the extent that Lincoln was.

The second period featured ALL but one of the goals, all but 1 of the goals in the second period came on the powerplay, and some of the worst hockey I've ever seen in my life (and I've watched some pretty bad hockey). I love the fact that fighting is allowed and I love the fact that the USHL uses the half shield (something I'm growing more and more in favor of for DI hockey). The officiating was pretty heavily in favor of Omaha, but that being said: 1. Lincoln played like crap discipline-wise from the second period on to the end of the game and 2. It still was better than WCHA officiating.

However, Lincoln ends up drawing a cross check or roughing or charging penalty against Omaha... or so it seemed.. .because what happens? An all out brawl capped by a goaltender fight at center ice. Most of the fights were just hugging and tug o war matches. The goaltender fight was actually very VERY good. Lincoln's goaltender "won" the fight and, unlike the skaters, there was actually no animosity between goaltenders after the fight (they fist bumped after it was broken up). However, after a nearly 15 minute delay while the penalties were assessed, Lincoln not only ended up NOT getting a short 5 second 4 on 4 and then a 1:55 PP out of it, OMAHA ended up getting the powerplay (a 5 second 5 on 3)! To make matters more interesting: In the scrum, both goaltenders were given 5 minute majors and a game misconduct. Omaha had 3 players get 5 min. majors and game misconducts and 2 plain 5 minute fighting majors. Lincoln ended up getting ALL FOUR SKATERS getting 5 minute majors and game misconducts. The Omaha roughing penalty was assessed ON LINCOLN and Lincoln ended up getting called for instigating. Luckily, Lincoln killed it off.

Nevertheless, Lincoln was still in the game down 2 to 1. The period ended after Lincoln tried to push too hard and gave up a 3 on 1 goal.

Well, that awful period aside, Lincoln could still claw its way back from 3-1 to make it interesting right? Well, almost. You see, the Lincoln backup was pretty shakey but the Omaha backup was actually pretty solid. Add into the fact that things got RIDICULOUSLY STUPID for Lincoln in the 3rd period.

You see, midway or so through the 3rd period, Lincoln's #16 and Omaha's #15 were assessed 2 minutes for delay of game. Offsetting penalties no doubt right? Nope. #16 ends up pushing and shoving the ref! WHAT A MORON! Then, to make matters worse, as he was ejected from the game, he started egging on and taunting the fans! Who is this guy? I hope Chad Johnson sits him down immediately post game and reams him a new arsehole. In fact, I'd make the whole team skate.

As a random note: Omaha wants to shut down the Omaha Civic Auditorium due to the fact that it would take about $29 million to make it not a suckhole. After tonight: I agree. That place is a dump.

Now to the UND recruits:

Paul Ladue - He played pretty solid...until he participated in that line brawl and got kicked out of the game. He didn't instigate or anything and I don't think he was one of the lippy Lincoln Stars, but he didn't do Lincoln any favors by getting kicked out. He played a lot of minutes up until then including on the 5 on 3s.

Luke Johnson - I hope he's 16 because he played like a 16 year old. He was pretty invisible for most of the game. He did have one pretty good chance late in the 3rd period but missed.

All in all, Omaha wasn't saints on the ice. They were yappy and could have gotten called a lot more than they actually did, but it didn't matter because Lincoln played far more undisciplined. So I got it all.

Former NHL player Jim Thomson wants to ban fighting in the NHL.

We live in a gladiator society and majority of NHL fans love watching a fight between two willing combatants; fighting in hockey is also an aspect of the NHL that I like. Two people square off and fight it "usually" solves the problem and it "usually" ends right there.

As far as an out right ban on fighting in the NHL, I also don’t think the NHL GM’s, coaches and players would probably ever go for it. Here is the way I see it, it you take fighting out of hockey, how in the heck are you going to police the game? You can’t count on the Colin Campbells of the NHL to protect the players on the ice, nor can the referees do so as well. Also, if there is no threat of player ever having to fight on the ice in the NHL you will see more acts of violence from the Matt Cooke type players around the NHL…

TORONTO — If it was Chicago, it might be two bottles of wine. They always seemed to have tough guys in Chicago, scary guys who would keep Jim Thomson awake the night before a game, and the extra wine at dinner helped to fortify him for what lay ahead.

Sometimes the anxiety led to more self-medication, pills that helped him get over the fear of being knocked unconscious in front of 20,000 fans. He was a fighter.

“As a fighter in hockey, you live in fear,” Thomson said.

He lived on the margins of the roster, protecting Wayne Gretzky one year, playing for the Phoenix Roadrunners the next. Thomson logged dozens of fights over a 115-game career, and when it ended, he suffered.

“I went through periods of depression,” he said. “I’m a recovering alcoholic. I believe a lot of my demons, if you will, came from hockey ending and the head blows and certain things that I wasn’t aware of.”

Now 45, Thomson said he “easily” suffered five or six concussions. During one stretch in the American Hockey League, he was punched so hard in a fight on Friday that he cannot remember what he did on the ice during Saturday or Sunday’s games.

On Wednesday, Thomson was among a collection of current and former athletes gathered at the Hockey Hall of Fame to promote a website (stopconcussions.com) designed to help educate athletes on the cause, effects and consequences of concussion. Retired NHL star Keith Primeau was the keynote speaker, but Thomson delivered perhaps the most radical solution to reducing the risk on the ice.

The former fighter would like a blanket ban on fighting in hockey.

“Get it out,” he said. “I mean, come on, why do we need it?”

He referred to it, more than once, as “bare-knuckle fighting.”

Kyle Clifford vs Daniel Carcillo

Watching this video really makes me happy, seriously Daniel Carcillo is one biggest hacks in the NHL and watching get worked by a clown by King's rookie Kyle Clifford is something that I relish. I am really impressed with this youngster's toughness who has already been in 12 fights this season.

Brian Rolston vs Alexandre Burrows

My advice for former LSSU star and Current Minnesota Wild player Brian Rolston is keep your day job as a top 5 forward with the Minnesota Wild. I have to give Rolston credit for taking matters into his hands by answering Burrows. I would not call Rolston a goon because that was only his second fight of his NHL career www.hockeyfights.com

From www.hockeyfights.com

There were two scraps in last night’s game against the Wild. Nathan McIver had a good bout with Aaron Voros early in the first period. In the second, Alex Burrows took exception to a hit Brian Rolston put on Willie Mitchell. Rolston got Mitchell hard from behind, no call was made, and Burrows wasn’t giving Rolston any option. It was Rolston’s first major since 1994-95 when he had a fight with Ken Klee. Klee picked up the instigator in that one, something the Star Tribune also noted.

Hale vs Adams

Craig Adams and former Fighting Sioux David Hale go toe to toe.

Burish vs Laperriere

Here is a pretty decent fight between Former Badger Adam Burish vs Av's goon Ian Laperriere. This fight took place in the game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Colorado Avalanche on Jan 18, 2008.

Over on Hockeyfights.com I scored the fight as a slight edge to Laperriere. On could say that the former Wisconsin Badger Adam Burish has been racking up the penalty minutes, Burish has been in an impressive 8 fights and is leading his team in penalty minutes with 120.

Former Badger Adam Burish vs Byron Ritchie

This is a great fight that I first saw this morning over on the NHL network. I didn't realize that Burish was that great of a fighter, but he can hold his own...

Jeremy Reich whoops Adam Mair

I found this video over on the Ghosts of the Garden This is what I would classify as a pretty good hockey fight, two guys come together and decide to square off.

The combantants in this incident and settle their difference like men, there is no turtling or hiding behind the refs, one of the players doesn’t whack the other with his stick or stick out his knee like a gutless puke named Ulfie Samuelson, these two players drop their gloves and have at it. When the fight is over the incident is settled and the players move on. This is why I like NHL hockey, the game of hockey polices itself, end of story.

Steve Downie takes on his own team mate in practice

Check out this fight that happened during 2005 season at a (CHL) Windsor Spitfires practice. The fight is between this season's 56th over all draft choice of the Chicago Black Hawks Akim Aliu and the Canadian hockey play most Americans hockey fans love to hate Steve Downie. The reason for the fight goes back to a hazing incident where Aliu didn't want to be hazed and Downie taking exception to him not wanting to be hazed. Aliu lost three teeth during the incident.

While apparently most in the Canadian media took Steve Downies side most of us on the other side of the border remember Downie for his cheap antics and the guy that Jack Johnson elbowed during the 2006 world Junior Tourney, also, the player that continued his antics during the 2007 World Junior Tourney.

Here are some of your classic Steve Downie moments/snap or how about this one where Ducks Player Corey Perry works over Steve Downie while the lines man tries to separate the two combatants... I knew there was a reason I admired Corey Perry.

Hot Stove: Hextal and Chelios

Here is a blast from the Past and Chelios and Ron Hextal get after it during the 1989 Wales Conference Finals. Old time hockey. Incidental Ron's kid Brett Hextal will be playing at UND in the fall, I hope he plays with the same fire and determination.

Hot Stove: Jay Miller and John Kordic

Ah yes... the old Bruins and Habs games, seemed like everyone of these games were an instant classic. Here are some great fights from some great games. Now, with the pathetic state of both teams the rivalry has become somewhat stale and even boring. John Kordic was the proto-typical goon playing in 244 games scoring 17 goals 18 assist for a total of 35 points. The amazing number is the 997 minutes in penalties. Incidentally John Kordic was killed in a Hotel Room a police officers in Lorette, Quebec. Kordic was 27 years old.

Ex-New Hampshire Wildcat Jay Miller was a little more talented hockey player playing in 446 games scoring 40 goals 44 assists and 84 points he logged an impressive 1723 minutes in the penalty box.

Hot Stove: Lyndon Byers vs David Mackey

With the new kinder, gentler NHL it seems the tough guys are becoming a thing of the past, now guys just hack each other with their stick or board their opponent. Lyndon Byers was one of my favorite Bruins, the man would fight with anyone and was a half way decent energy line person. You also got to love the Bruins old third jersey's.

Byers and Giles

Thornton vs Danny Markov

As far as I know this is the only fight there has been during the third round of the playoffs. There has been a lot of stick work but not many fights. This one didn't last long either.

Great Hockey Fight Neil Sauter vs. Mario Lamoureux 05/06

Check out this fight

I found this awesome fight video over on The Matt Wellens NMU Hockey Blog I would have to say that this is a great fight.

Phil's Brother Mario in Action

Brett Burns gets dirty

Bret Burns had never had a fight during his NHL Career until the Ducks and Wild playoff series this season. Brent Burns has really picked up his game and become a force to be reckoned with on the blue line. Someone one was joking that he has more fights than the Wild's tough guy the Boogey man, Derrick Boogaard.


In this fight Chris Kunitz pulls Brent Burns hairs. I mean come on grown men don't pull the opposition players hair.

Jack Johnson get into two Fights in his last Game of the Season

You have to love Jack Johnson's spirit or JMFJ as the Michigan fans call him. Heck this is a feat the Boogey man would be proud of. Only thing; Jack if your going to wear the face shield I would recommend taking off your helmet before you drop the gloves and get into the fight. You can get 2 additional minutes for fighting with a face shield. I also think Johnson is a good enough player that he isn't going to have to fight all the time but you do have to admire his grit for sticking up for his goalie that was run over in a cheap hit.

Backus and Ballard square off

Looks like David Backus is going to get to be getting a Christmas card from Keith Ballard. Lets Go Mav's is going to love this one. All in all it was a really good scrap. From watching both players when they played in the WCHA I can tell you that they are both very tough hockey players. This is also in my opinion is a perfect example of a good fight. As far as I can see It wasn't stagged and it was a result of spirited play that was decided on the ice.