TSN's Bob McKenzie on hitting in hockey:The truth is if we actually fear "taking hitting out of the game" we wouldn't allow a player to start a fight over a perfectly clean hit in a game that is suppose to encourage body contact. Unless, of course, the desire for fighting in hockey trumps bodychecking.This is what I've been on about. Fighting is allegedly a way for the players to police themselves for bad actions on the ice by others. However the recent trend is for monkey-bashing to happen after a perfectly clean hit. Ottawa is not immune to this -- witness Michalek jumping on Pittsburgh's Craig Adams after the hit that injured Alfredsson in December 2009. It was a clean hit, and Alfredsson later admitted he'd got himself out of position a bit so that the hit hurt more than it should have.
So -- clean hit == monkey bashing?
Not to mention the baying for blood when the Senators re-played Pittsburgh later. It was just stupid. Of course Ottawa didn't indulge in such stupidity, and won the game instead. Winning is much better revenge.
Defending fighting on the grounds that the officiating is bad is defensible, although I would much rather see proposals or efforts to fix the officiating instead.
Defending fighting as a means to intimidate other teams and players is just stupid.
