This past weekend, the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team had a full-on line brawl against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes (UQTR).
This isn’t the first time the Ravens have brawled with opposing teams. Earlier in the year, they dropped the gloves with Guelph, and last season, they collected over 78 penalty minutes in a brawl with the Patriotes.
While the fights have received some attention, they should not be commended. Other sports don’t allow fighting and hockey needs to stop being the aberration.
To be fair, Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) hockey has some of the toughest rules legislating fighting to be found. Those involved in a fight are given game misconducts and, for a player who instigates the bout, a two-game suspension is added on top of that. But these rules do nothing to change the culture of fighting in hockey at the root of the problem.
For Carleton, fighting is often overlooked because of the team’s “chippy” style of play. This can’t be considered acceptable. In a recent series by the New York Times, it was found that taking blow after blow to the head for years contributed to former NHL tough guy Derek Boogaard’s brain disease. These are the consequences. Boogard died at the age of 28 this past summer. His death was attributed to a mixture of alcohol and painkillers.
It’s obvious that despite prohibitions in leagues such as the CIS, fighting persists. With brawls becoming more commonplace, the time is now for the NHL to step in. As was the case with requiring players to wear helmets, or even introducing the trapezoid behind the net, it will be unpopular at first but will eventually permeate the game’s culture.
Maybe ticket sales will take a hit, but isn’t that better than somebody’s brain?