All Habs Hockey Magazine is proud to provide a platform for young guest writers to express their views on important issues. Today, we present the third of a three-part series on fighting in hockey. Your comments are welcome.
Sean Perrun was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has been a Jets fan and a Canadiens fan for as long as he can remember. Some of his fondest memories are of his dad taking him down to the old Winnipeg Arena for Jets games. He was just ten years old when the team packed up for Phoenix, but he still donated his life savings, a whopping $10, to the ‘Save the Jets’ campaign. When the Jets left, he felt that they took a part of the soul of Winnipeg with them, leaving a void in the city that could only be filled with their return. Now that they are back, Sean tries to take in as many games as possible, and to be part of the great atmosphere at MTS Centre.
Part 3: Risks in hockey. What do Derek Boogaard and Bill Masterton have in common, if anything?
By Sean Perrun, Special to All Habs Hockey Magazine
WINNIPEG, MB. — As stated in earlier parts of this series, it is my opinion that the league should be taking preventative measures to cut back on the number of injuries, namely concussions. The numbers have shown thus far that fighting results in a small percentage of concussions in a typical NHL season.
Gary Lawless, a sports writer for the Winnipeg Free Press and host of Lawless and Order on TSN Jets, would have you believe quite the opposite. He is staunchly against fighting in the NHL and writes that it has run its course. “Young men such as the late Derek Boogaard are still allowed to punch one another in the brain with no protection covering the hand or the skull. What’s worse is Bettman allowing this to continue while it adds nothing to the playing of the game and arguably damages it as a business,” said Lawless in an article published in The Winnipeg Free Press. Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the NHL would disagree saying that “there’s no one silver bullet to what’s causing concussions.” According to the data presented in part 2 of this series, I couldn’t agree more.
And while Derek Boogaard’s situation is tragic (an autopsy would eventually reveal damage to the brain from post-concussion symptoms) it doesn’t change the fact that the vast majority of concussions are suffered from legal hits. Boogaard was a fighter and with that comes a certain amount of risk. That risk should in no way include risk to life.
However, the case of Derek Boogaard has its share of external circumstances that extend beyond the game of hockey. The circumstances have been reported to be a struggle with substance abuse and depression. It should be noted that the official cause of death was “accidental overdose of alcohol and oxycodone.” Situations of death are extremely rare in the NHL. According to TSN, Bill Masterton is the only player to have died as a direct result of on ice injury in 1968 when he was hit cleanly (according to a teammate on the ice at the time) and his head cracked upon the ice. He would later succumb to his injury.
The push to ban fighting in hockey is by no means a new one, but the battle may have been intensified because of a bout that happened in the first regular season game of 2013-14 in the new-formed Atlantic division between George Parros of the Montreal Canadiens and Colton Orr of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Parros was taken off the ice on a stretcher because he came down on the ice face first due to a slip by Orr, who was clutching the jersey of Parros. As Orr fell, he inadvertently pulled Parros down and slammed his face to the ice. It was nothing short of a tragic mishap that came about simply because Parros was doing his job and coming to the aid of teammate P.K. Subban as he was being accosted by Orr. These situations are much rarer than the naysayers of fighting would have you believe, but unfortunately they do scream quite loudly in the debate against fighting in the league.
The elimination of fighting, and effectively the enforcer, in hockey would no doubt save six concussions a year on average, but what it won’t do is protect players like Max Pacioretty from non-fighting-unfortunate-events. He was driven into a stanchion where the players’ bench ends and the glass begins. On March 8, 2011, he suffered a fractured C4 vertebrae and a severe concussion from the hit that was delivered by Zdeno Chara who received a five minute major and a game misconduct, but no fine or suspension. It’s a perfect example of the league not taking an active role in discipline against irresponsible players.
With that aside, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s the players on the ice that are playing the game, not the fans or the journalists. Shouldn’t any decision on fighting be left to them? In a recent CBC and NHLPA poll of 318 players, a staggering 98 per cent of them want fighting to remain in the game, while 67 per cent of fans polled want it banned****.
“I hate that it’s even being talked about” said Steve Ott, captain of the Buffalo Sabres. Chris Neil of the Ottawa Senators thinks that “it’s part of the game, it always has, and I think it always will be.” The president of hockey operations in Calgary thinks that hockey is safer if fighting remains. “The amount of fighting in the game has been reduced dramatically, and that’s a good thing. It’s not going to go up, but I think it’s a central part of player safety” said Brian Burke.
One thing is for sure, there is a lot to be said on the subject of fighting in hockey. Whether one is for it, or against it, there can be no denying that the fight is an extremely exciting part of hockey, albeit a small, short-lived part.
While I can’t disagree that the IIHF, in all of its fight-free glory, is a more talent-driven and exhilarating game, the argument must be made that it is that way because the federation assembles the best players on the planet from any country that can produce such players, and pits them against each other. Part of the excitement of the IIHF is the national pride that is associated with each game. That being said, I have witnessed many accounts of cheap-shots and dirty plays. Maybe that’s just the game at hand, or maybe it’s because the players know that they don’t have to atone for what they’ve done in that league.
Any way you spin it though, the numbers are in and what they say is that out of 80 concussions in one season, only six were as a result of fighting. That should be the argument in the foreground against banning fighting in the league.
Did you miss any parts of this guest series? You can find part two here: Fighting in Hockey, Does it Belong? Part 2: Concussions
Part one is here: Fighting in Hockey, Does it Belong? Part 1: Violence
Sources:
*Wikipedia — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_McSorley#Assault_incident
*Wikipedia — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Ciccarelli#Controversy
***http://dropyourgloves.com/fights/LeagueSeason.aspx?League=1&Season=2012
Additional sources from articles and interviews by TSN, CBC, SportsNet, SB Nation/Rawcharge, The Winnipeg Free Press and RBNonline.ca