The NHL and NHLPA need to take a stand on this issue, not avoid commenting on it. Fighting adds nothing to the game and has a negative impact that includes injuries, overshadowing the skill and fast paced action and ruining the image of the game. The most popular argument they offer is the whole accountability thing, that enforcers keep cheap shots to a minimum and ensure that players play with respect. It’s a myth. On my blog – http://itsnotpartofthegame.blogspot.ca/ – I have published statistics from the past 12 NHL seasons that show when fighting is reduced, non-fighting penalties are also reduced. The same report shows that teams that fight the most also take more non-fighting PIMs. Enforcers don’t control the rats – they are the rats.

And how is this a sports network promotional problem? ESPN might show 15 seconds of hockey a day if you’re lucky. Check out the highlights of this game on the NHL’s website… You won’t see the fight at all. The clip starts with 19:00 left in the first. The Flyers/ Wings game a week or so ago where Kronwall knocked out Voracek.. They left that out, as well. NBC sports network? When have they ever promoted a game by giving you the names of the team’s goons? Never. All I ever see are the stars names, playoff implications and division rivalries. I don’t get the impression at all that theres a blatant attempt to grow the sport using its violence, in fact, I see the opposite. Take the winter classic for example.. That’s done more for the growth of the game than anything in the last twenty years. Where’s the promotion of violence there? Violence is a part of the game, sure, but it’s hardly been the selling point. You’re mistaking the NHL for the UFC.

How about this for a solution, when the Devils put their goons out to start the game, the Rangers put out a centerman who can win the faceoff cleanly along with more skilled players who can force the play into the Devils end and score a goal. That’d make them pay more than trying to fight off the opening faceoff, especially considering all the attention it gets in a game trying to grow in the US.

It’s no wonder people think hockey is a game played by a bunch of toothless Canadians with low IQs and little actual skill. It’s one thing to ask people to get their kids involved in a sport that has a high initial (on ongoing) cost to participate, but another to expect them to when all the US sports networks focus on is the violent hits and bloody fights.

And these weren’t staged fights either. The Devils put their goons out first and the Rangers made them pay for it. That sounds pretty reasonable to me, and its all part of the game. These pansies that don’t actually play the game need to stop trying to change it to make it “safer” becuase all they are doing is watering it down.