Sports

Concussion Panel Recommends Hockey Ban Fighting at All Levels

by woodpeck | February 10, 2009 at 11:37 am

290 views | 2 Recommendations | 7 comments

Fighting should be eliminated from hockey at all levels of the game, according to recommendations released Tuesday from an expert panel dealing with concussions in hockey.

"Fighting is one of the known causes of concussion, and may result in the related long-term complications," the panel's summary statement says. "Fighting can cause needless death."

The recommendations, resulting from meetings at the London Hockey Concussion Summit on Jan. 17-18, also calls from an elimination of high hits/head hits.

"Those are significant ones," Summit chair Dr. Paul Echlin said. "The reduction of hits from behind has had a major effect on the incidence of broken necks in hockey and similarly, the reduction of high/head hits should reduce the incidence of concussions."

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CaptainAmerica

at 13:56 on February 10th, 2009

Well I think the fight is kind of part of the game, but sometimes it is getting too serious and because of the rivality of the teams, there are too much fight and it can be dangerous for the players.

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onlyhumannature

at 15:06 on February 10th, 2009

A friend game me tickets to see a hockey game and it was enjoyable when they were actually playing hockey. The fighting got old quick.

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90928gt

at 17:22 on February 10th, 2009

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I enjoy hockey fights.

tatertot1976

at 17:44 on February 10th, 2009

This fight came at the end of a lopsided loss by the Topeka Roadrunners. They had also lost the night before in a contentious game. You could see the animosity and frustration build during the first two quarters and then in the third quarter the fight finally broke out.

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Roy C

at 18:41 on February 10th, 2009

Ban the fighting. It is wrong, unnecessary and dangerous. Ban all of it and the unnecessary hits as well.

woodpeck

at 19:06 on February 10th, 2009

banning fighting won't make it stop happening. it'll just make it stop from happening every game. maybe every night. its a step in the right direction.

Robert Sutherland

at 08:32 on February 11th, 2009

Absolutely ridiculous. Are they going to ban riding your bicycle? Boxing and MMA? Doing a cross pattern up the middle in football?

These guys know what they are risking when they fight. I'm all for having penalties or something for teams who have a player who plays 3 minutes a game and is only on the roster to fight.

I challenge you to find one person who wasn't excited when Jarome Iginla and Vinny Lecavalier drooped the mitts and fought in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2003.