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Old 10-14-2018, 12:05 PM   #1
Déjà Bru
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: United States
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Miss all the fighting in the NHL? I don't.

Here's an article in Newsday reporting the steady decline of fighting in the NHL for various reasons. For years, fighting was something that turned me off about professional hockey.

The "enforcer" role has virtually disappeared. Those were the guys who could barely skate but were on the team to beat opponents, literally, and protect "gentlemen" such as Wayne Gretzky.

I certainly don't miss goons like Dave Brown, quoted thusly in the story:
Quote:
“Say a team came out flat, you had another way of turning momentum in a game, whereas the way it is now, you can’t do that,” Brown said. “You could scare teams into having some advantage. Human nature is to be afraid if, physically, you’re going to get harmed. We all knew back then if you hit a guy, crushed a guy with a clean check, hurt him, that was an advantage to you.”
Brown doubts that he could have played in today's NHL. The game has gotten quicker, requiring more speed and finesse.

Plus the NHL should be commended for cracking down on at least the premeditated stuff. The days of "staged fights, where guys line up and say, ‘We’re going’" and "a wordless tap from a coach was signal enough for an enforcer to hop over the boards and do his job" are over.

It's a better sport for this change, in my opinion.

Pulling punches: The decline of fighting in the NHL
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Last edited by Déjà Bru; 10-14-2018 at 12:10 PM.
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