A lot has been made on the internet in the past few days about the (non)response to Stuart's elbow to the head of Nash in the Rangers' game against the Sharks. There are those that say response should have been immediate and ruthless, and others that say the call on the ice was enough. It is impossible to deny that the faction of people deterred by the violence of hockey and other contact sports is growing, and has a valid argument in the form of "player safety".
Yes, these things on the ice are human. They have brains that can be scrambled, limbs that can be broken, and important arteries dangerously exposed (just ask Doug Murray). They face enormous risk every time they suit up and skate out for practices and games alike. What fascinates me is how different sports are now from where they used to be.
Most of this post is not directly about fighting in hockey. That is the common thread throughout, and it will be very clear where I stand on the issue, but that isn't all you will be reading about. In fact, this post can apply to hockey almost as well as it can apply to football, soccer, or any other team sport.
Team sports, to me, have always stood as a metaphor of war and survival. If you are not stronger, faster, and smarter than your opponent on any given night, you will lose, and the consequenses could be dire. An ancient Viking game of tug of war was played over a pit of fire. Games in ancient Central and South America called for beheading the contestants, sometimes it was the loser for shame and sometimes it was the winner for honor. Countless other ancient sports culminated in the injury, death, or execution of the participants. In battle, you fight for the flag behind you, the man on your left, the ground in front of you, and the person whose picture you keep in your left breast pocket. Even when there was no organized opponent except the forces of nature, you and your close group had to be stronger, faster, and smarter than your food, or risk perishing in the elements.
To say any of these are more dangerous than hockey would be an understatement. And yet to me, someone who never progressed beyond high school organized sports, the concept of team still holds true. My formative years saw me a track and cross country runner, just about as non-contact and individualized a team sport as you will find. And yet, over the course of one season, you always knew exactly who would be running around you, and who had to beat who in order for your team to win. The last thing any of the seven of us varsity runners wanted was to disappoint our teammates by coming up short when six others were pouring it on to get those valuable points. And if I saw any opposing runner try to clip my teammates, or 'accidentally' spit on someone's leg (it doesn't slow you down, it doesn't hurt, but the urge to stop and wipe it off can be difficult to suppress), you can bet I'd be next to him as fast as I could to say "You can't do that to my teammate. I don't care if you or your team is faster than us, I will not stand for that". If I caught him doing it again, you bet I boxed him in at the next turn. I don't know if my teammates ever overheard me saying something. I don't know if they did it when I got knocked down in a race. Looking back on it, I don't even know why I felt so passionately for a group of guys who I didn't spend much time with outside of cross country functions...
It comes down to the Herb Brooks "name on the front of the jersey" adage. When a Ranger goes down with a concussion due to a dangerous play, he has hurt someone wearing the same name as me. There is a reason Prust and Callahan are my favorite Rangers from my adult hockey watching career. In addition to their ability on the ice (my defense of Prust on this point is a post for another time, look past it for now), they have given up their body and their health for the name on the front of the jersey. Whether or not their opponents respect them for what they do, I am proud to call Prust a former Ranger, and I'm proud to call Callahan our captain.
Hockey is a game of passion. Players, coaches, fans, and journalists say this.But passion is more than staying on the ice an hour after practice to work on your snap shot or stick handling. I sit in my room, in the bar, or in the stands saying and doing things that would never otherwise come to mind in the heat of the moment. If passions boil over into dropping the gloves and throwing your fists at your opponent's face, I appreciate what the Ranger name means to you. And truth be told, it disappointed me to see nobody in Stuart's face after the Nash hit. The refs are not there to provide discipline. Neither is Shanahan. They exist in order to enforce rules. Some rules are designed to promote safety, others exist to make the game entertaining. Two minutes in the box and a three game suspension does not make up for the Rangers losing a star forward. Getting in Stuart's face doesn't make up for it either, but if I was Nash I would feel that my teammates let me down.
As an aside, I believe fighting has less of a place in hockey than it currently holds. I have no interest in two players below replacement level agreeing to dance, throwing a few token punches, and skating to the box. That isn't fighting for your team, that's fighting for your paycheck. If 90% of the NHL fights were removed from the game and replaced with full speed skating, stick handling, and brilliant goaltending, I would be thrilled. And ultimately, I hope fighting is abolished so I never have to read, see, or think about the people who blindly support one side or the other with countless fallacies and unproductive banter. But until that day, it will continue to mean a lot to me when I see a player standing up for his teammates by dropping the gloves and facing the potential consequences.
Thanks for listening to the rant. I'm always interested in hearing other sides to the story, so feel free to take up an argument with me or anyone else on the matter. But if you do it in my comments section, keep it civil or risk becoming the stereotype everyone hates about this issue. Hockey is a beautiful game, and it will continue to be whether or not fighting remains a part of it. Always bear that in mind, and most importantly, Let's Go Rangers!
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