by Gregory Pivarunas

Created on: June 18, 2009

Some things are important for a sport to remain in its entirety. For example, baseball needs umpires, football needs the field goal, and basketball, the free throw. Even the more "dangerous" parts of sports are important as well. Batters are hit by pitches daily in baseball games, but nobody interferes, just makes it safer for players. In the same way, fighting is an integral part of hockey, not only because the inherent risk is not great enough to merit curtailment, but also because it is important to the tough, aggressive, and territorial game that hockey is.

First off, a fight in hockey is often not very dangerous compared to other sports. In boxing, the participants go into the ring with the sole purpose of pummelling the other into submission. Football pits three-hundred-pound linemen against each other. Meanwhile, in hockey, the players need to have more finesse at the game; they must be light enough and graceful enough to skate well, and have good hand-eye coordination to shoot well. They are not entering the game to fight each other, but to win. Fighting only comes as a natural occurrence in the game, when winning mentalities clash or a dirty hit is thrown. Speaking of cheap shots, they are much more dangerous in a game of hockey than a fight. One participates willingly in the fight, sees the opponent, and has a chance to defend oneself. A dirty hit has no warning attached, comes suddenly, and often lands a player into an immobile wall. If fighting is made illegal in hockey, hits should be punished the same way as soccer, where a red card merits suspension from the game.

Fighting is also a natural way to release excessive adrenaline and "get even" with another player. Even penalties for cheap shots do not fully take away the frustration of the player who received the hit. Sometimes fighting is the best way to settle differences with one's opponents on the ice. In an interesting way, it also creates camaraderie with the team. Players help each other out, keep opposing players from entering the brawl, and ends up making the fight a much more even match. The fight in hockey only comes from the winning mentality of each team. A team that merely takes hits, and skates along the ice just hoping to "play harder" will be smashed by opponents. Sometimes the best defense comes from fighting back and teaching opponents to give one respect. Also, players enter fights with the knowledge that penalties usually occur from their actions. This prevents players from fighting on whims, and only for more serious reasons.

Hockey is an aggressive game, and players are expected to hit and be hit in return. It is much safer than many other sports that involve violence, and provides an outlet for players to get rid of anger. If there was no fighting, dirty hits would abound, and possibly many more players would be more seriously injured. In short, hockey contains and permits fighting in order to prevent more dangerous acts of revenge from occurring on the ice. It is a necessary part of the game, even though it may not be the prettiest.

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