The NHL Promotes Violence in the League Instead of Hockey
The NHL Promotes Violence in the League Instead of Hockey
During the 2002 Winter Olympics, the hockey games were fast-paced, exciting, and full of tension and well-coordinated offensive plays. And as I was watching these games it readily became apparent to me that the reason the players were focusing entirely on their skill was that none of them were approaching the aggressive type of playing they had during the regular NHL season. Crosschecking against the boards was rare; penalties tended to be even rarer, and throughout the entire Olympics there were no fights. The Olympic’s play contrasts to today’s NHL, where people are frequently crosschecked and injured, penalties are frequent, and rarely do teams get through a game without at least one fight. I feel that if the penalty for excessive violence in the National Hockey League was equal to the penalty in the International League, NHL game play would be greatly improved. Therefore I feel that the penalty for violence in the NHL should be increased to the standards held in the International League.
In the International League, players caught fighting are instantly ejected from game play; after being ejected, a player is not allowed back in for the rest of the game and can sometimes be barred from multiple games as a result of one fight. Their penalties are strictly enforced; anyone caught crosschecking or pushing receives an immediate 2 minute roughing penalty and a player can also be suspended from the game if he receives two roughing penalties in one period. In contrast to this, in the NHL fights are common, averaging one a game. While the rules state that any player caught fighting after being instructed to stop receives a game misconduct, frequently all that happens to the players in a fight is a minor 2-minute penalty for all players involved. Also the NHL’s stance on penalties is much more lax then that in the International League, in the NHL players often shove and crosscheck others into the boards in order to stall or delay them from getting the puck. In the International League this could be considered equivalent to a fight which would lead to a player getting ejected, but in the NHL this is commonplace.
The fighting in the NHL is often glorified and portrayed as something that only real manly men can do. Several websites, the most popular of which is www.nhlfights.com, offer in-depth coverage of...