Why Fighting is Necessary in the NHL

Charlie Klein

Today whilst watching ESPN's First & Ten, I became increasingly frustrated as analysts who know nothing about the sport criticized the fighting in the NHL as brutish and negative for the game. Generally speaking I never take much of what Skip Bayless says as legitimate opinion, but him along with Chris Broussard just went over the line today.

Both argued that the hockey at the Olympics was of such higher quality to the typical NHL game because there was no fighting over the last two weeks. This argument is false for three reasons:

1. International hockey does not allow for fighting.

2. The atmosphere in Vancouver was playoff-like, so do not fault the typical NHL game for failing to conjure up that that sort of emotion.

3. I spent the entire two weeks dying for a fight.

Most people outside of the NHL do not understand why fighting is necessary in a hockey game. They argue that any time a fight happens in any other sport it is a big deal and yet in an NHL game it is totally normal. Such critics fail to recognize that fighting is a powerful way of re-seizing momentum in a game. It can spark a team into life. Most importantly, it allows for teammates to stand up for each other in the most physical mainstream sport. The same people that hate on fighting in the NHL payed the 55 bucks to watch Manny Pacquiao give Ricky Hatton a glass jaw. So I just don't want to hear about how barbaric fighting is from people who enjoy it in another sport whose main point is to literally beat the living daylights out of another human being.

And honestly, who wouldn't have wanted to see a fight during the gold medal game?