Hockey Fans Are Tired of Hockey Fights

After watching another pointless hockey fight, one in which Zac Rinaldo stunned B.J. Crombeen and left him dazed on the ice, I spent some time searching Twitter for tweets on hockey fights.  I was impressed that there were numerous comments from fans who wanted to see fighting eliminated from the game.   But I wonder what impact those tweets have without direction.

The Rats Are Taking Over The Game

A little over a year ago there was a press conference where Brian Burke complained that the rats were taking over the game.  At the time there was considerable press coverage that fights per game had declined over the previous year and the pro-fight contingent used Burke’s comments to point how the game featured more cheap shots as a result.  Except the facts show the opposite is true.

Why Fighting Does Not Belong In Hockey.

Joseph Beyda recently published an article in the Stanford Daily titled Why Fighting Fits in the NHL.  It was a rebuttal to a colleague, Tom Taylor, who wrote about his initial experience with hockey, published previously on the same website under Why do NHL “stars” Still Have to Act Like Goons?  Beyda thought that his arguments were solid and his defense of fighting was a slam dunk.  I don’t think so.

NHL Cares About Player Safety – Just Don’t Ask Them About Fighting

The NHL has been very vocal about how progressive they are in the area of player safety.  A little over a year ago they announced a Department of Player Safety.  Brendan Shanahan has become the new face of player discipline, handing out stiffer penalties in an effort to reduce head shots.  At the same time he participates in committees that look at equipment and rule changes designed to make the game safer.  So why is fighting ignored or dismissed as an area of concern?

Putting The Best Talent On The Ice

Several roster announcements caught my attention this past week, particularly those involving enforcers.  All of the teams talked about adding “grit”, or making them “tough to play against” or “creating room for their skilled players”.  I wondered about the talent that wouldn’t make the team because of a role player who would see limited minutes on the 4th line.

The Code by Ross Bernstein (Part 2)

This is a continuation of my review of Ross Bernstein’s book, The Code: The Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL.  In part one I provided my opinion on the first half of his presentation of 10 reasons about what prompts dropping the gloves.  Here in part two I’ll address reasons 6 to 10 and provide an alternative view.

The Code by Ross Bernstein (Part 1)

A few months ago I picked up a copy of Ross Bernstein’s book, The Code: The Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL.  My view would not be much different than those you can find on any book review site; that it’s a repetitive book with lots of first person quotes on why fighters drop the gloves.  But in my opinion the 10 reasons he provided in chapter 3, about what prompts dropping the gloves, are pretty weak.

A Milestone - 10,000 Page Views

Sometime on Sunday, October 14, 2012, It’s Not Part of the Game registered 10,000 page views.  I’ll admit that I wasn’t monitoring my traffic, hitting refresh over and over to get the exact time when that memorable visitor hit my site, but it’s still an important statistic in the history of this blog.   I can’t take any credit for significant changes but a lot more people have better information on fighting in hockey, and why it doesn’t belong in the sport.

Goon – Great Hockey Movie

The movie industry is known for taking a character and, through embellishment, exaggeration and distortion, turning it into a caricature.  Goon is no different.   But in doing so it ends up as an enjoyable movie when there’s nothing better to do.  And I thought it got a lot of things right in terms of depicting the enforcer and how the role impacts hockey.

Hockey Players Fight Because They Can.

For the last 8 months I’ve attempted to disprove the popular myths about why fighting remains in hockey.  Using accepted academic studies, research from other hockey websites, NHL statistics and observations from professional journalists, I think I have presented a compelling alternative view of this issue.  But I’ve recently come to believe that the reason it remains in the game is very simple.