Fighting in Hockey Essay Example

ESPN states that Todd Fedoruk was taken off the ice on a stretcher after a fight with Colton Orr during a game between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. The fight, which took place just 21 seconds into the game, ended when Orr “landed a hard, overhand right.” on Fedoruk who immediately fell backward, unconscious. Philadelphia’s team doctors immediately ran onto the ice to help Fedoruk who earlier this season missed eighteen games after “major facial surgery” from another fight (Philadelphia). Injuries like this have made many people take a deeper look into fighting. Players are getting bigger and stronger, which has resulted in an increase in the number of injuries during the 2007 NHL season. Fighting is also giving hockey a bad image to some, which is turning away potential sponsors and fans. However, fighting in hockey has tolerated since day one. It is also an aspect to the game that draws many people to the game and can also be used as a strategical move to shift momentum and to help star players do their jobs. The players also have unwritten rules they follow to keep fighting from getting out of hand and many believe that fighting prevents dirty plays and cheap shots by keeping players in check. Fighting has always been a part of hockey and should never be taken out. According to Ross Bernstein, fighting has been part of hockey since it was first created in 1800’s. When the NHL was created in 1917, it was a very rough game where “players had to stickhandle through a gauntlet of flailing fists and elbows, high sticks, and outstretched legs, ready to kick or trip them as they skated by.” The game has cleaned up a lot since then but when the chance came to ban fighting in 1922, The league created rule 56 which only gave a five minute penalty to anyone who engaged in “fisticuffs.” This is when fighting officially became part of hockey (Bernstein 3,4).
One of the main reasons fighting was left in the rules was because the owners saw the fans loved