NHL Cracks Down on Fighting

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 12, 2009 12:36 PM CDT

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NHL Cracks Down on Fighting — Los Angeles Kings right wing Kevin Westgarth, left, and Vancouver Canucks left wing Darcy Hordichuk, right, fight during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Monday, March 9, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

This has been a banner season for fighting in the NHL, and the league doesn’t like that one bit. It’s trying to crack down on “staged fights,” in which two players agree to duke it out as soon as play starts, the Christian Science Monitor reports. A proposed new rule would tack 10 minutes onto the traditional “five for fighting” if the fight looks arranged.

That’s both a reaction to the death of a minor league player after a fight in January, and an attempt to make the game more family-friendly. But for hard-core fans, fighting is fundamental. “NHL brass want to have it both ways,” said one sports anthropologist. “American fans have a strong appetite for carnivals and spectacles.” (More hockey fight stories.)

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