“The fights where guys come onto the ice and just drop their gloves don’t really have a place in the game for me.

“I still believe intimidation is a big part of all sports, whether it’s golf or hockey, and you have to have a mechanism to police things and you can’t rely on the ref to do that. You have to be able to send a message. But guys have to play the game and do their job.

“There’s nothing wrong with two guys getting together in the heat of the battle and settling a score by duking it out — the spontaneity of it is a beautiful part of the game. But the game has digressed with — they call it staged fighting, I don’t. If that’s all you’re going to do, do it between periods and call it a stage show.

“My goal was to be a hockey player, not sit on the bench and have one fight.

“I’m quite proud I can say I played against everyone in my day and managed to contribute in different ways. The teams that aren’t successful today are the teams using guys (as a pure goon). You have to use guys, let them bang bodies and grind it out — it sets the tone for the rest of the team and it calms things down at the same time.”

-Tim Hunter, retired NHL player. More from Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun.