We've already has one fight this season - which is one too many. Fighting has no place in interscholastic sports which is why the MSHL reserves its harshest penalties for those who do fight.
How do we eliminate fighting? Simple. It takes an act of will by the student-athlete to say to him/herself, "I will not fight." That's it. If you ingrain it into your conscience that the ice rink is not the time nor the place to settle your differences by punching your opponent, then there will be no more fights.
It's not the ref's job to prevent a fight from starting, nor is it the parent(s) in the stands, nor the coach. The responsibility falls on the players.
So next time the adreniline starts rushing through the veins, take a deep breath and get even in the traditional way -- on the scoreboard.
2 comments:
This has no place i agree, we are killing the effort to make this a school varsity sport. I pray my fellow coaches will see the light and work harder to control our sport.
Joe, Perhaps you should take a look at how fighting is defined in your rules (even a smack to the face with a glove on constitutes a "fight") and redefine those types of more minor infractions? Give that a double-minor for roughing, and reserve the harsher penalties and suspensions for the more reckless plays that truly aren't a part of the game? Do you have this power, or is the standard USA Hockey standard?
It also doesn't help the image of our league when we are here saying that fighting is a problem, with bloated statistics that put an actual hockey fight on the same level as a glove to a caged facemask.
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