November 04, 2005

"This court finds that fighting is an integral part of hockey,": Emmert said. "Thirty million Canadians could have told you that."

posted by garfield to hockey at 09:45 AM - 25 comments

Fighting in hockey will never go away. I think people underestimate the impact of fighting in hockey. It intimades other players, psychs up your team and helps set a tone. If you don't like the fighting shut your fucking mouth and watch figure skating. Mr. Jones was just doing his job and therefore should recieve workers compensation.

posted by HATER 187 at 09:58 AM on November 04, 2005

If you don't like the fighting shut your fucking mouth and watch figure skating. / throws off gloves onto ice // pulls HATER's sweater over his head /// throws a few haymakers //// falls to ice ///// teammates pumped ////// crowd goes nuts

posted by NoMich at 10:18 AM on November 04, 2005

/tosses Hater from thread for not having a tie-down.

posted by yerfatma at 10:37 AM on November 04, 2005

You forgot to put on the foil. Image hosted by Photobucket.com Or did you?

posted by chris2sy at 10:41 AM on November 04, 2005

Anyone remember Lyndon Byers from the Bruins? Now THAT dude could swing a fist if I ever saw one

posted by sinisterfoot at 11:00 AM on November 04, 2005

Fighting is an integral part of hockey and some players are only there for their fighting ability. If hockey did not allow fighting just think of how many "enforcers" would be out of work. Mr. Jones should accept his workers comp. and try to get back into shape so that he doesn't actually have to work for a living like the rest of us. Of course I say this while sitting at my desk and reading these posts.

posted by grabofsky74 at 11:26 AM on November 04, 2005

Tie-down?

posted by HATER 187 at 11:57 AM on November 04, 2005

hater, a tie-down is a strap inside the jersey that connects to one's pants to prevent said jersey from being pulled over one's head.

posted by goddam at 12:02 PM on November 04, 2005

Oh a fight strap. gotcha. Only those real expensive jerseys come with those.

posted by HATER 187 at 12:03 PM on November 04, 2005

Rob Ray! Rob Ray!

posted by fabulon7 at 12:47 PM on November 04, 2005

Fighting seems quite natural in hockey. It's a violent emotional game played at break-neck speed for less than a minute a shift. If you remove it entirely, I truly think that stick work and cheap shots go up. But, I'm all for the 'enforcers' to be retired for good. The days of guys who could only fight are gone - the rosters are smaller and the game is too fast. You have to do more. And c'mon - who didn't get pumped when Iginla and Lecavalier dropped them in game 6?!? That helped both teams get to a higher level.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 01:28 PM on November 04, 2005

I agree, if you can't do more than drop your gloves, you shouldn't be in the NHL. But if this is such an important part of the game, why did ESPN, and does OLN not televise a potential game-swinging event in the US? CBC does, as well as Rogers Sport Net, TSN, etc. Fox(family values)Sports does. I'm sure team-owned stations air the dust-ups too. So what's the dealio, OLN and in effect Gary Bettman? If you look at fighting majors league wide, Western Conference teams fight much more often than East Coast squads. Is the East tamer because games are 'prime time' viewing for the majority of the continent? While the West plays its game when the occasional expletive is permitted to escape on network television?

posted by garfield at 01:44 PM on November 04, 2005

Enforcers with some skill will still probably be around. Domi can score on the PP and Brasher is vastly underrated. And what about a guy like Iginla his fighting prowess is another of element he brings to his team. He'll knock you down and pass all over you.

posted by HATER 187 at 01:48 PM on November 04, 2005

Domi is awesome. Period. Guys like Nazarov...don't let the bench door hit you on your way to oblivion.

posted by garfield at 01:56 PM on November 04, 2005

EPSN sucks when it comes to hockey. Why is it that I can find out about college basketball, baseball, football, but not hockey? I live in Maine and I love Maine Hockey! Why can't I turn on ESPN and see how my team is doing. On another, yet related note: do you think that this could be one of the reasons that hockey is not a popular? Maybe if the sports channels actually talked about it there would be more interest. Now I love playing pool, but do I care who wins in some obscure tournament? Devote even a half hour show to college hockey weekly and I bet some more interest would be shown.

posted by grabofsky74 at 02:04 PM on November 04, 2005

You can knock him down, you can beat him, you can even confuse him, but DO NOT TAUNT Hater 187. Hockey, like soccer, does not have enough breaks in the action for television. Throw in enough "tv timeouts" for beer and chevy commercials and viola!

posted by bugsyduke at 03:04 PM on November 04, 2005

grabofsky74: You need ESPN-U. They show college hockey on a semi-regular schedule. As far as hockey and TV, there should be more slots devoted to 1/2 hour or 1 hour shows, besides ESPN.

posted by tadley86 at 03:24 PM on November 04, 2005

How about ban all "reality" shows and give us something real? Like, say, hockey. Use banner ads, break away from the game, anything. Just show us hockey. Soccer wouldn't be too bad either. If they can air "Wife Swap," surely they can find 90 min or so for real sports. DO NOT TAUNT

posted by bugsyduke at 03:48 PM on November 04, 2005

We've entered an era of enforcers with skills. Domi, Brashear, Neil, Chris Simon, the game is better for these people existing. The NHL of Dave Schultz, Larry Playfair and Wayne Maki is gone, hopefully forever.

posted by chicobangs at 03:52 PM on November 04, 2005

I wish Parros would have scrapped with one of the Coyotes last night. Shit, anything to fire up the Kings, they were flat! After coming off a nice win in Dallas the night before, LA had no fire. Maybe Gretzky had McSorley threaten to beat the shit out of every King if they played hard. Yeah, that's it, they were intimidated by the Great One and his right hand man.

posted by Desert Dog at 03:54 PM on November 04, 2005

I enjoy a good scrap every now and then during a good game for sure. My problem is aimed more towards a coach who not only couldn't back him up, but that he himself would tell his player to do it to begin with. When I see two players fighting, I believe this is happening due to the players having problems with one another. This takes away the whole idea that players actually have problems with each other. Next time I see any fight, I will now wonder if it is due to a coaches want for it more than the players involved. Does this story now tell us that the coaches are the enforcers and the players are just the machines doing the dirty work? I also liked what some of you had to say on and off the beaten path of the story.

posted by melcarek69 at 04:25 PM on November 04, 2005

i personally enjoy good fights in hockey. i think its better though if they get rid of the guys who only fight like eric boulton or that mcgratten guy on ottowa who destroyed tie domi. i like the fighter who have talent like a brashear or chris simon who can actually help their team.

posted by mikesnygiants at 06:27 PM on November 04, 2005

The league has always and will always have players who's job is to fight. On the other hand it has always been full of the versitile type enforcers that are more and more frequent in todays game. I can name a few like the greatest enforcer of all time, Gordie Howe. For years he was feared for his ability to put the puck in the net as well as turning opposing players faces inside out.

posted by Coach_B at 12:57 AM on November 05, 2005

Eddie fucking Shore.

posted by Samsonov14 at 02:52 PM on November 05, 2005

Old-time hockey?

posted by yerfatma at 03:24 PM on November 05, 2005

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