Hilarious responses. Of course fighting belongs in hockey just as it belongs in everyday life.

If the guy in the other car cuts you off and flips you off, follow him until he gets off and break his finger off and shove it up his derrierre.

If the other guy tries to bully you, hurt him seriously.

Life isn't meant to be a tea party, it always has been a conflict between opposing groups who have  real or imagined differences.

And ALWAYS will be.

Walk thru life, bother no one.

If someone bothers you, ask them to stop.

If they don't stop, destroy them.

The world would be a far better place.

Fewer of gods mistakes around that way.

Fighting that breaks out in the heat of battle has been and will always be part of hockey. That means retaliating for a dirty hit or an attempt to injure a team-mate.  In any team sport fights accasionally occur for that reason.

What should be banned is deliberately sending in a goon to stir things up with a fight or to try to get a "star" off the ice with a penalty.

Even in legal courts,  crimes of passion are punished differently than premeditated ones.  But they are both punished.

I personally think the game itself is just amazing to watch.

But when those gloves drop, you can't deny that every crowd in every city starts cheering and they're on their feet. The excitement is there.

But in every other major sport (including football, which is based on contact), there is no fighting. And they are all successful.

The question is what would happen if fighting left the game?

Well, in 20 years, it would be as if it were never there, and the unspoken code that currently exists would be different.

But until that point, there would be some dirty hits, running, boarding, etc... and the odd guy would fight anyway, even if it means getting suspended. Dirty stickwork would probably increase for a while too.

Here's the question - Launy, maybe you can shed some light. I don't know much about hockey back in the day... like in the 40's through the 60's. What was the role of fighting then? How often were there fights, and why did they happen? Was it because a star player was hit cleanly? Was it because one guy talked smack about another's wife?

What is the difference now, as compared to 50 years ago, that is causing injuries and even death?

David

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Okay, someone had to start this thread: Does fighting belong in the NHL? In hockey in general? How about staged fighting? I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this!