![]() ![]() Adult coaches are sending 16-year-old players out to fight 20-year-old players, stoking their almost certainly delusional dreams of NHL stardom, and nobody on the ice is even making any money out of it. What I’m saying is that fighting in junior hockey has always struck me as tantamount to child abuse. CRACK MONKEY JUNIOR PROFESSIONALI’m not claiming that banning staged fighting in junior hockey would necessarily get rid of it in the professional leagues, though it couldn’t hurt. If fighting in the NHL is appalling and unconscionable, then what adjectives go with the situation in junior? Shouldn’t this be a far bigger issue than it is? Now people like 17-year-old Linden Springer chuck their knuckles at the CN Centre in Prince George. “If you win a few fights in this town you could run for mayor,” the team GM told his new acquisition, who wasn’t old enough to run for mayor. The Regina Pats had him in uniform within a week.īut he wasn’t good enough at winning fights, so, at age 17, he was traded to Prince George. His ticket to the WHL came during a Junior A game when he went berserk and dove into the other team’s bench, fists flying, like Larry Holmes at a press conference. ![]() When he lost fights, he was mocked and demoted. CRACK MONKEY JUNIOR SERIESBoogaard’s early hockey career, starting around age 16, was a series of fight auditions. Branch’s account of his younger life is equally so. Boogard’s story is - a broken body, brain damage, early signs of dementia even at age 28, depression and drug abuse - Mr. And they’re adults - that’s the other problem. But the fact is, the labour of players like Mr. If a superstar who occasionally drops the gloves - Jarome Iginla, say - ever suffered a career-threatening injury in a fight, you might attract Gary Bettman’s attention. That’s a money decision, not a moral one. But it took Sidney Crosby’s prolonged absence to make it happen. The NHL has addressed the head shot issue, to some extent. Pious moralizing clearly doesn’t pull much weight. We live in an era where people pack out midtown Toronto bars and pay hefty cover charges to watch Ultimate Fighting. People like fighting in the deep south, in the wilds of Minnesota, and in the platinum seats at the Air Canada Centre. The first is that people like fighting in hockey, and it makes money. If one’s goal is to change hockey and not just to preen, there are at least two problems with this shame-based approach. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
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