When & why was fighting introduced into ice hockey & why is it so accepted as part of the sport?

Answer 1

Fighting represents commitment and the warriors who do battle have greatness in their blood.

Just kidding. The questions before yours were penned by a rather intense fan of field hockey which took me a few chuckles to get past.

I don't know when fighting became a regular occurrence in the sport, but it's always been part of it. As for it's purpose, many regard fighting as a deterrence to liberties being taken with 'skilled' players without fear of retribution. This same segment of believers also contends that the absence of that aforementioned fear would lead to greatly increased aggressive stick infractions.

I think the efficacy of fighting became a huge debating point once teams (Boston and Philly in the 70's) began using it as a primary tactic towards the pursuit of victory.

The "Broad Street Bullies" and the "Big, Bad Bruins" intimidated and pummeled their way through the NHL and to championships for the better part of a decade, leaving many to question the sport's legitimacy.

Today, the existence of the instigator penalty has greatly reduced the influence of fighting as a deterrence, resulting in the worst of both worlds, meaning stick infractions continue while specialized pugilists play minimal minutes and do their 'enforcing' every now and again.

Ultimately, although the NHL has had trouble defining a true stance on the subject, fighting remains a fan spectacle and will not go away anytime soon. It may be modified, as it has been in the past, but it won't be banned at the highest levels of play.

Answer 2

It wasn't introduced. It just was there. This wasn't some gentile game invented by the blue bloods where you had time to sip tea between the action. This game evolved from a combination of hurley and lacrosse. Two pretty rough sports played by the lower classes. It works in the game. Not just for the entertainment value but because it deters stupidity. The players have sticks (which can be used as weapons) and sometimes a two minute penalty isn't going to stop someone from being foolish with the way they use their stick. A good poke in the nose though, reminds the offending individual there is a price to pay for lacking respect.
On ice hockey players are rough and tough but off ice these guys are some of the finest examples of athletes in the world. They stand head and shoulders above ANY other professional sport for the way they conduct themselves off ice. Many opponents are even close friends off ice. Why? Because they leave it all on the ice and the game lets them. Maybe IF the other sports allowed the occasional fight these other bad characters in other sports might be a little more reasonable off the field.
One other point. If people don't like fighting why is UFA and Pro Wrestling so popular?

Answer 3

Fighting in sports has always been around. A game is really a fight between 2 teams when you think about it. Anything it takes to win. In football; players are physical and basically fighting every single play. In basketball; they just run into the crowds and fight drunken pistons fans. In baseball; no explanation needed as charging the mound and bench clearing brawls are pretty common. And what about boxing?

Hockey is generalized as the "fighting" sport because there are 2 referees and 2 whole teams; not to mention the crowd; standing around watching the fight; making it seem as though it is encouraged. The trugh is; ref always jump into the fight once it slows down; really most fights are ugly and don't even last a minute. The aggression and, most importantly, the PASSION that these guys have in their hearts; wether its for their country pride; for their fans; or for their family; anything........the passion is immense and you can't always find someone along the boards to lay out. Sometimes you just have to drop the damn gloves and get it on.

It adds such a dimension to the sport; the goons; the out of control games where every puck dropped leads to a fight (i was at the philly/ottawa game; lets put it that way). Tie Domi; Bob Probert; the Broad street bullies; and now Darcy Tucker and Sean Avery exchanging words before the game. What's NOT to like about all that???

Answer 4

Hockey has always been rough since the beginning. I tend to be cynical about the reasons fighting is still accepted, it mainly comes down to putting bums in seats IMO.

I don't accept the self-policing argument as the vast majority of fights are between "role" players, and the playoffs don't have a lot of fights. Wouldn't the opposite be true if it was all about protecting your teammates? Kenny Linesman used to take liberties with his stick all the time, and then just turtle when challenged by a tough guy. He may be a jerk, but he's a healthy jerk with a Stanley Cup ring. I do accept that players that have their heads in the game 100% will lose their tempers sometimes.

Answer 5

i like zaps response

basically the nhl has to walk a fine line between the uninformed non-followers of the sport who think fighting is there solely for spectacle and on the other hand leaving teams helpless to defend themsleves

u need to be able to keep teams from injuring your players and sometimes the penalties that the referees can call just are not deterrents

if i can take out your best player and know that it will cripple your offense then it is worth it to me to give you a 15-30% chance of scoring a goal on a power play; wheras if you have a 6-3 245 pound man coming at you swinging or taking a run at you, you might think twice

Answer 6

aside from the self policing

its often used to fire up your team when they are playing flat

ur team has no emotion, and you are playing in an important game, so the tough guy goes out and picks a fight hoping to pop the opponent a few times and fire up the fans and players.

you ever been to a game where the home crowd was totally taken out of the game? a fight gets them up in their seats, gets them cheering, pumps up the players



oh and why is it accepted?
probably cause the majority of fights have like, 2 punches landed... and very rarely do guys get seriously hurt... heck lots of fights end without a single good punch landed

Answer 7

Maybe thosands of years ago the team games (sort of hockey) were wery brutal. The team wich wins eats the players from the other team (wich looses). In hockey there is no other way to fight for the puck, if you don't push or fight someone (trust me).

Answer 8

zapacity had a good response, though sounded like it came right out of a book. but there is a 2 part, simple answer here. why do we fight? #1- because we can. #2-if you try to hurt my star or my goalie, dont think youre getting away with it.

Answer 9

Just wait till Sammy sees this one. Grab your Bible deflectors people.

Answer 10

There were 2 fights in the NHLs very first game....the fans cheered - the fights stayed.
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