Last Friday, the Penguins played the New York Islanders. They lost, but I’ll bet that’s not why you remember the game: the game was marred by several fights, ejections, and general thuggery which resulted in three player suspensions totaling 23 games, and the Islanders receiving a $100,000 fine – pocket change for an NHL team. This all occurred because of events a week earlier, when Pens’ goalie Brent Johnson fought, and injured, NY goalie Rick DiPietro. Time for a few admissions here – I’ve cheered on many a hockey fight in my day, including when Johnson took on DiPietro (after the latter illegally hit Matt Cooke, sending him flying late in the game), and I’ve defended the sport’s pugilism in the past, albeit lukewarmly. I’m here to renounce that stance, and tell you why hockey cannot and will not grow in popularity until it cleans up its act.
Let’s go back to the 1970’s for a minute. The NBA and NHL were very similar leagues in many respects – both were clearly second-tier next to baseball and football; both were fighting off rival leagues (the WHL and the ABA, and both featured fighting as ‘part of the game’). Sure, the NBA didn’t have nearly as many fights as the NHL – but the fights they did have were pretty barbaric and from what I’ve read and heard, not nearly as ‘honor-bound’ as most NHL fights. For the NBA, this really all came to a head when Kermit Washington punched Rudy Tomjanovich so hard that he almost died in 1977. The league quickly enacted much tougher penalties for fighting, and now an NBA fight is about as rare as a baseball fight. Since the early 80’s, the NBA has become a premiere league – they’ve enjoyed rapid expansion, high TV ratings, and much higher salaries across the board. I’m not here to say that eliminating fighting was the sole cause of this – they also cleaned up their drug problem, and a couple of guys named Magic and Bird helped a lot – but I believe that destroying the culture that was ok with fighting was a big step for the NBA and was a factor in its growth.
On the other hand, the NHL embraced its fighting culture. Quick, when you think of the 1970’s NHL, what team comes to mind? I’ll bet your answer is the Flyers, the ‘Broad Street Bullies’ of the mid-70’s. A great team to be sure, but also a rough-and-tumble team that would fight anyone anywhere – and they won the Stanley cup twice. Did you know that the Montreal Canadiens won SIX Cups from 1970-79? That in 1976-77 they set the record for points that still stands (they went 60-8-12, 132 points)? Probably not, unless you are a die-hard hockey fan – and that’s sad. Clearly the best team of the decade was Montreal, and it’s not all that close for second place – yet they are forgotten by fans today.
See, the 1970’s Canadiens were hockey at its finest – a fast-skating, well-tuned unit that combined toughness and skill without having to fight. The modern-day equivalent is the Detroit Red Wings. In 1978, the Canadiens had a grand total of 754 penalty minutes, and only one player accumulated more than 100. The 1975 Flyers (their last Cup year) racked up almost 2000 penalty minutes, and one player (Dave Schultz) had 472 himself! This team spawned a legacy that still thrives today, the idea that the best hockey teams have to ‘defend their teammates’ and ‘stand up for themselves’ and ‘do what needs to be done’ – all euphemisms for bare-knuckled fighting while standing on a sheet of ice. You probably don’t know much, if anything, about the 1970’s Canadiens, but you’ve no doubt heard a lot about those Flyers – and this is not your fault, this is the hockey media’s fault, and (especially) the NHL’s fault. It’s obvious that if the NHL wanted to get rid of fighting, it could – other leagues impose automatic suspensions of varying lengths for any kind of fighting; in the NHL most fights get you a grand total of five minutes in the penalty box.
No, far from wanting to get rid of fighting, the NHL has glorified it – through embracing fights as part of its ‘heritage’ (see: 1975 Flyers), rarely enforcing the ‘instigator’ rule, and showing highlights of fights on their own network as often as they show great goals. Then, the league turns around and wonders why, aside from Canada and a few hockey hotbeds, attendance and ratings are stagnant. Here’s a clue: many fans don’t want to see fights, they can watch MMA for that! They want to see speed, skill, clean checking, and great saves – all the things that make hockey such a special sport. When you consider the heightened concerns about head injuries, especially among our youth, many parents are probably a bit concerned about exposing their kids to the NHL scene, where it’s illegal to check an opponent in the head but punching them in the head is ok.
Now, fighting proponents will tell you that removing the fights will lead to more illegal acts against great players. I say that’s hogwash! The solution is simple and not original to hockey-if you come down hard on fighting, you have to come down at least has hard on blatant, injurious hits on the ice as well. If Matt Cooke hits a guy in the head like he hit Marc Savard, give him 10-15 games. Boarding should be a mandatory suspension. By the same token, make diving a major penalty so that players won’t try to fake being badly hurt. Defenders of the fight will also tell you that fighting builds team chemistry – I have no doubt that players DO bond when they stick up for each other, but I think there are other ways to accomplish that besides a fight. The Red Wings have long been a great team, and I’ve never heard about any chemistry problems there – yet they rarely fight. Could it be that winning begets chemistry, not vice-versa? (I firmly believe that to be true – let me know the next time you hear about a terrible team’s great chemistry, those stories are ALWAYS about good teams)
There’s another side to this as well – I’d estimate that there are about 10-20 players around the league who only are in the NHL because they can fight. They don’t have enough hockey skill to stick, they are the ‘enforcers’. The Penguins have a classic one in Eric Godard – the man is AWFUL when he actually tries to play hockey, but he’s a respected fighter. So what, you say – well, those 10-20 players are causing 10-20 actual HOCKEY players to never get their shot on the big stage. There are plenty of 20-24 year old minor-leaguers who can fill a valuable role on the 3rd and 4th lines in the NHL, and actually contribute in a hockey way – but their hard work will not be rewarded as long as thugs are on NHL rosters. Get rid of the fighting, and the Godards around the league will instantly be out of the league – and the quality of play will improve.
So, my message to the NHL – do what all international and youth leagues have done – make fighting a mandatory ejection PLUS a 1-game suspension, and watch the fight disappear from the game like it has in basketball. Enforce rules that protect player safety vigorously, and don’t promote the fights – instead promote the great shots, the hard-but-clean hits, and the acrobatic saves.
I know some will say I’m taking this stance because my favorite team was caught on the wrong end of most of the mayhem last weekend – and that’s at least partially true; had that incident happened in Boston or out west it’s doubtful I’d have noticed it as much. However, I DID see what happened, and while I deplore how the Islanders acted, it’s fair to say that the Penguins brought some of this on – not just by injuring the goalie, but by some of the team’s reactions after that fight. If fighting were out of the game, a goalie would not have a fractured cheekbone; the focus last Friday would have been on the score (incidentally, the Islanders beat Johnson 9-3…I thought that was great revenge in and of itself for them) , and maybe the talk around the sports world this week would be about the streaking Devils or the powerful Canucks instead of that grisly game…and maybe, just maybe, the sport would grow and flourish like the NBA has done.
Final note – if you think hockey without fighting turns into ‘flag football’, I URGE you to watch collegiate, junior, or Olympic/international play – there’s no shortage of toughness and great hits, but I cannot recall seeing a single fight in any of those games. THAT is what the NHL could be.
Next week, a look at the Pens again as the trade deadline nears, and we’ll start to ramp up for baseball season.
Dave Glass can be reached at buggyracer@verizon.net.
