Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Fighting Once Again A Hot Topic

10/02/2013 at 9:20am EDT

from Adam Proteau of The Hockey News,

In one respect, the injury could have happened on any play; it was an unexpected shift in weight and momentum that could’ve happened on a body check, as we saw with Kevin Stevens in 1993. As always, the standard disclaimer about how the game will never be 100 percent safe has to be issued, lest the straw-clutchers in the comment section get riled up.

But there’s no arguing one point: if Orr and Parros had been ejected from the game after their first fight in the first period, there’s no way Parros is hospitalized tonight. Tell me again why there shouldn’t be an automatic ejection for NHL fights?

To do so would allow fans of fighting and those who see it as a stress release valve to still watch fights.

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from James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail,

“You know, it is kind of déjà vu,” said Leafs coach Randy Carlyle, who was behind the Anaheim bench when Parros was punching for his side and Orr suffered his devastating head injury. “It was the same type of thing. It wasn’t a punch. The guy fell down and unfortunately hit his chin and stayed on the ice. It’s unfortunate. Those are tough things.

“We know what kind of person George Parros is. He’s spent a number of years defending his teammates. He’s a great person, a great guy to coach, and it’s unfortunate this situation happened.”

And it is. But what’s even more unfortunate is that a sport built on speed and skill and brawn and full of amazing moments allows it to happen again and again to great people like Parros and justifies it as part of the game.

It’s kind of like déjà vu.

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from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

An awful, horrifying moment.

Again. AGAIN.

After a summer in which the Bettman adminstration fiddled with silly rules like tucking in hockey jerseys and made changes to icing into a debate worthy of the Meech Lake Accord, of course it was the elephant in the room that made itself heard on opening night of the 2013-14 NHL season.

Fighting. The dangerous, pointless, bloody shame of fighting in the NHL, the combination of a league terrified to let the sport stand on its own two feet and a union that refuses to protect its workers.

continued

from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

Everyone who reads me understands that I believe the game could survive without fighting. My belief is simply based on my fear that one day a player will die in a fight on the ice. Pure and simple. I say that because Don Sanderson did die in a Senior A Ontario game fight in 2009. <.p>

Am I concerned how the game would look if the "rats" in our game weren’t policed? Yes, I am. And I don’t have a good answer for that other than I’d hope the refs would police it as well as they could.

And you cannot discount the emotional lift that some fights do provide in games. The Habs seemed buoyed by Parros’ first fight with Orr, as well as Travis Moen taking on Mark Fraser.

I totally understand that and do not argue that fights in games have an impact. No question, they do.

But I come back to my one and only concern, the only one I’ve ever held on the sensitive subject: I’m worried we’ll have a tragic incident one day, because today’s players are just stronger and bigger than ever.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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