Violence 'n Hockey

 

 

 

 

By Liam Britten

pointless sideshow.

It squares one man against another. It has little to
do with the actual team game at hand. American fans can’t
get enough of it, and frustratingly, it seems to dominate the
highlight reels on SportsCenter and the like.

I am of course referring to the shootout. Introduced
after the lockout, this method of eliminating ties has barely
any relation with actual five-on-five hockey. It’s a skills
competition at best, but perhaps “game show” is a more
accurate depiction...

Yet the League’s governance loves the shootout. There
seem to be no rumblings of changing it.

Meanwhile, hockey’s other sideshow, regulated
fighting, seems to have no shortage of critics. Citing the
lack of relevance to the game and player safety, many
pundits and bloggers are calling for fisticuffs to be
eliminated wholesale from the NHL.

Which would mean NHL hockey would become more
like European and NCAA hockey. You know, those leagues
no one ever watches? And I assure you, there’s a reason for
this lack of viewership — it’s boring without the violence.

Fighting is part of the character of hockey. It adds a
visceral edge to the game. When you watch your favourite
tough guy beat the snot out of the other guys’ pest you
can’t help but be entertained. You are watching your
team physically beat the other team. It’s almost as fun as

IE truly sad that the modern NHL is dominated by a

Fighting can be safe if the NHL wants it to be

 

   

figuratively beating them on the scoreboard.

It’s-been a sad summer for the NHL (and hockey in
general), and the deaths of three NHL fighters has been
on everyone’s minds. Rick Rypien, Derek Boogaard and
Wade Belak made their living by dropping the gloves. It’s
doubtful, with their skill levels, that they could have made
the NHL any other way.

And while their deaths weren’t on the ice — Rypien
and Belak reportedly took their own lives, while Boogaard
died of a drug overdose — brain injuries suffered in their
line of work very likely contributed to the mental issues
they struggled with. It’s understandable that this summer
has made hockey fans more aware of the toll fighting takes
on players and made them more amenable to a fighting ban.

But that won’t provide the answer we’re looking for.
A fighting ban would certainly end the careers of players
like Rypien, Boogaard, and Belak. I can’t imagine that
unemployment would do much for their mental states.

The answer is leadership. The NHL and the Players’
Association needs to step up and start doing right by these
players who have put it all on the line. There needs to be
more counselling. More support. More medical precautions.
And most importantly, it needs to be done with the specific

~ needs of fighters in mind.

Plenty of NHL tough guys go on to lead happy,
productive lives after the game is behind them. It’s time
for the NHL to make sure fewer of their own are falling
through the cracks.

 

When violence is encouraged, where’s the line?

By Jenn Markham

ome argue that all of the violence we see in North

American hockey games is necessary because it’s

a contact sport. All it takes is to watch one game of
European hockey to see that well, that’s just not true. Their
players exercise more skill with the puck, through handling
and passing, in place of over-aggressiveness. While it’s
true that ice hockey was established in North America
as a derivative of field hockey to be played in our icey
conditions, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it can be argued
that our way is the “right” way.

It’s a fact, our players are paid to play aggressively
because fans enjoy the fights and that’s what sells tickets;
but what does that say about us as a society? What about
the toll it takes on our players? Concussions are. becoming a
huge concern in the NHL because they’re the kind of injury
that affects the player’s entire life, long after they’ ve retired

from hockey. Players like Eric Lindros and more recently
Sidney Crosby and Marc Savard are examples of this.

The players are bigger and faster now than they’ve
ever been, making the game fast-paced and full of split
second decisions. Third and fourth line players become
hitters to make their careers. But, when referees standby
and allow violence, where do we draw the line? Everyone
who has watched the video of Todd Bertuzzi’s career ending
sucker punch against Steve Moore would agree that it’s
gone too far but, wait... aren’t we paying him for this?

The gear our players wear has also changed over the
years; from foam padding to hard plastic, and now players
actually: wear helmets. That’s all fine until someone’s
receiving those hard plastic bits in the face. Every fight I’ve
seen, the protective gear is the first to go (the helmets, the
gloves). With another exciting hockey season almost upon
us, as we make our picks for the hockey pool, it’s time to
take a better look at who is really fueling the violence.

17