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Poor tired old Hockey Night in Canada.

Despite exhaustive efforts (presumably) by its production and research staff, HNIC has still not been able to turn up a single person capable of expressing the growing sentiment against fighting in the sport.

You'd think with all those taxpayer dollars behind it HNIC might be able to find a single voice in the hockey world to occasionally disagree with the program's stridently pro-fighting platform.

Instead, it's "fighting is part of the game" before the game, during the first period intermission when we see hockey's version of Ann (Anybody Who Disagrees with me is a Fag) Coulter, during the second period intermission panel discussion and after the game.

Not one voice to challenge the notion that fighting is desperately needed in the sport. It's almost as if HNIC and its chief opinion makers are frightened of actually having to defend their antiquated notions of the sport. They're so insecure, folks, they have to replay old shows to make themselves feel better.

But maybe Joel Darling and his staff just couldn't find somebody. Or maybe having a certain point-of-view is a pre-requisite to participating in that program?

Well, let's help them out, shall we?

Right there in the ACC on Saturday night, after all, was one of hockey's more reasoned, intelligent and independent thinkers, injuried Maple Leaf forward Michael Peca.

Peca has been through the wars, playing as a little man in what has become a big man's game, and playing it with an edge the entire way.

So here's what Peca had to say about fighting in an interview with The Star's Paul Hunter:

"Traditionalists will say it has a place in the game, it helps police the game. There’s a whole theory about that but, on the other hand, guys are getting hurt. I don’t think it’s just the fighting. I think it’s blows to the head in general.

"I’m sure there’ll come a day when, much like in football, you just can’t hit the head whether it’s your shoulder or anything. Then fighting becomes a little redundant because those are basically blows to the head.

"I think fighting will eventually find itself out of the game. There might be people worried that then the stick fouls and everything will increase but I think it’ll come to a point where respect for the game will kind of balance that out.

"Ninety per cent of the time it doesn’t really serve a purpose any more in the game so take it for what’s its worth."

That's just one NHLer's opinion, but while some would have you believe all NHLers think fighting is wonderful, there are lots more just like Peca out there.

Even HNIC might be able to find one.

NOTE: Given that a couple of readers have wondered if The Star isn't just as guilty as HNIC in airing both sides of the fighting debate, I figured it was worthwhile to point out that Rosie DiManno took a decidedly pro-fighting stance in her coverage of the Belak-Janssen scrap last week and Kevin McGran published a piece with both sides of the fighting debate last week as well.

More to the point, I don't think there's any shortage of availability of pro-fighting opinions out there. It's the silent majority that is far under-represented in the public debate.

Comments

[David Mitchell]

Nick Kypreos and Bill Berg of Sportsnet both could do a great job and both have stated their opinions that fighting should be removed. Likewise for Tie Domi (of all people), but he needs to build some on air capability.

[Doug Bryce]

Why don't you move down to south florida and buy yourself a sun dress cox? Never seen one guy write so many anti-fighting articles, don't you have anything else to say? Leafs are in an unbelievable playoff race, top 5 scorers in the league are Canadian...and all you do is whine about fighting. Its part of the game, get over it.

[Sanj]

It was funny to see the old clip of Don Cherry getting in touch of his gay side on Coach's Corner. If anything Don Cherry is good for a laugh or two.
I don't mind fighting. What bugs me more is the so called "code" and how it plays out. I was getting so tired of Domi and other goons sending a message to the other team near the end of a game. Or when a player makes a clean hard hit on a star player but the other team feels they need to retaliate.
But don't expect objective views from HNIC. If you aren't from a small Canadian town, or haven't played the game, or don't act like a tough guy, or don't cheer for the leafs then your opinion doesn't count.

[John Richardson]

I don't think I've ever seen a worse interview than the one Ron Maclean thought he was conducting with Colin Campbell prior to the game.

Ron, you're not a journalist. You're Don Cherry's straight man. Stick with that.

Repeating the same question over and over again isn't being "hard-hitting". It's being annoying and childish.

Colin Campbell should have whacked you on the side of the head.

[mark]

So, once again a diatribe about fighting in the NHL and a pile of insults thown at anyone who might think about the issue differently than Mr. Cox. You are as guilty as HNIC in proclaiming your point of view at every opportunity. I will ask you the same questions I have asked every time you stand on your soap box. How would you go about eliminating it? Automatic major/game misconduct? What about a star player protecting himself from an intimidator? Should they both be ejected from the game? No, you say, just the 'instigator'. Great, so.. the designated 'pest' (ala Kenny Linsman or Esa Tickenan) just keeps on whacking and hacking at the star player when the ref isn't looking. Sounds like the perfect reciepe to return the league to a time when domination equalled intimidation. Thanks Damien; that's just what everyone wants. Fred Shero would be pleased.

[Ron]

Thanks for your continued efforts to question the role of fighting in the game. I grew up with the game, played it, and watched HNIC for as long as I can remember. But I've been a firm believer for many years now that fighting is wrong. I am amazed that seemingly intellligent commentators like Pierre Lebrun buy into this nonsense. I can't watch the McLean/Cherry sideshow anymore...in fact, I find it increasingly distasteful that our national broadcaster gives airtime to someone who openly mocks and criticzes European and French-Canadian players based simply on their heritage.

Next time you see Mr. McLean or LeBrun, ask them some simple questions: how did Sydney Crosby manage to lead the league in scoring for most of the season, prior to the arrival of his 'policeman' Georges Laraque? How did the Oilers make it to the finals last spring with Laraque sitting in the press box? How did the Carolina Hurricanes manage to win the cup without an enforcer in their lineup at all? And, if their argument is that fans 'never leave for the concession stands' during a fight, then why not go the next step...just take the two 'policemen' from each team and let them square off during the intermission? Better than watching a Zamboni circle the ice for 15 minutes...

[Stephen]

Ah, but how many pro-fighting articles do we read in the Star? Seems to me that a paper with so many sports columnists could manage to find one or two that could balance out the rest of you. Remove thy own twig, Damien.

[Michael Boulter]

The game is moving so fast today that ref's miss a lot of penaltys -- eg. the hit on Thomas Kaberle. Violence is frequently the last resort in a world where injustice prevails. Think of fighting as "frontier justice".

[A-Mar]

I think Peca's words are the most telling and probably the most meaningful. Fighting will eventually find itself out of the game... this is just a logical evolution of the sport... its going to happen, but its not going to happen today or tomorrow or even five years from now, so don't worry about it... the key note for the anti-fighting argument is that they (goons) don't actually prevent any injuries, in fact with the size and strength of today's goons, they are CAUSING injuries. Sure, a good fight now and then can get the blood pumping and bring the crowd to its feet, I'm not going to debate the entertainment value of a fight in a society that endorses gladiator violence. But it is the injury factor that will ultimately lead to fighting's demise. How many times does Todd Fedoruk have to get hurt before someone questions traditionalist views? and the whole 'code' thing is complete nonsense... were Cam Janssen or Chris Neil adhering to this same code when they took runs, not at Toronto or Buffalo tough guys, but at star players? The 'Code' only works when everyone goes with it, and it sure doesn't look like universal acceptance... I am not even going to mention Bertuzzi or Simon in a fighting debate because those respective incidents were assault, not fighting, and have no place in a pro-fighting, or anti-fighting NHL. I'm done.

[Jeff Stummer]

I have never seen anyone whine about any one subject so much in my life. This guy has got to grow some stones and just cover his eyes when there is a fight or become a basketball or soccer fan. He has to be the only guy who is not standing up and cheering at a game when a fight breaks out. Stop trying to force your narrow, effete version of hockey on everyone else.

[A-Mar]

Ok, maybe I lied. Doug, what's the deal man? Cox is writing anti-fighting articles because they provoke discussion and debate... that's what his editorial/web-blog is for. As for the top five scorers being Canadian... who cares? Was anyone pointing out the years before this that Europeans dominated the boards in statistical categories? I don't seem to remember so. You are regurgitating Don Cherry propaganda which is unfortunate for someone smart enough to be reading a newspaper, albeit the sports section. What's next? You gonna tell me that Jordan Staal's SHG's are worth more than the additional 30 PTS Malkin has on him? Puh-lease!

[Dan]

Here's a thought Mr. Cox. Instead of championing all this anti-fighting sentiment, how about you start championing the anti-weapon sentiment?

How about we come to your column someday, and read your words illustrating how now, instead of one on one fights in hockey, using fists, we see "star" players and "goons" both using their sticks to try to decapitate each other. Now I'm sure, like any good journalist you'll ask where my proof is. I'll only provide a list of "star" players who act like morons and that yourself and other media happily ignore their violent acts so you can focus on the Canadians who fight.

"Star" players:
1) Perezhogin - Vicious two handed slash to the face in a minor league game.
2) Doug Weight - Hooked a bit, spins and cross checks Henrik Sedin in the face (4 game suspension only - 2003)
3) Daniel Alfreddson - Continual cheap shots by the master himself, and let's not forget his attempted baseball swing at the head of Tie Domi 2 years ago that Reichel stopped.
4) Keith Tkachuk - Cross check to the neck Rob Davison.
5) Ray Emery - Intentional chop to the face this year on Maxim Laperriere.

I'd rather have my kids grow up watching a one on one fight on the ice, than have them see "role models" such as these, using weapons on unsuspecting players. How about the NHL, Canadian media and yourself get your priorities straight?

[Guy Dompierre]

Does anyone else find it a tad ironic that Cox says HNIC won't air someone with the opinion that fighting should be removed, yet he quotes one of the 3% of NHL players who are against fighting to support his view?

Almost everyone who is against fighting in hockey is journalists or someone else who is so far removed from what fans want it's laughable. It just drives the hockey writing hacks NUTS that the NHL is actually listening to the fans and players for once and not them. The "growing number" of people who are against fighting are simply media hacks and their pack mentality.

Sorry Cox but the formula is pretty easy:

Gate driven league + paying fans enjoying fighting = Fighting is here to stay.

Get used to it.

[Ivan Froese]

Silent Majority? Really? How about vocal minority - I think that's a little closer to the truth. Seriously, I thought journalism was about checking your facts. And please, perhaps you could at some point back up your claims that most people want fighting out of the game. One half hearted quote from Mike Peca doesn't really prove a whole lot. Why do journalists feel they have a right to dictate a sport. Write about it, don't re-invent it. You know not of what you speak.

[Andrew]

Wow...who knew so many mouth-breathers took the time to remove their knuckles from the ground and reply to an article in a newspaper? Nothing beats some Don Cherry and some beers eh? It's humiliating to be Canadian sometimes...

[James Morton]

Andrew, who knew a skirt-wearer would take the time to talk about "mouth-breathers". Your comment was the most useless of all. If you are humiliated that the majority of hockey fans enjoy fighting, then get a new favourite sport! I hear curling is almost injury free ;) But please, don't try to change what the majority already love!

And as for Damien, "silent majority"? Aren't these the same people that wanted Canada to support the war in Iraq? Call 'em up! Who would have guessed you'd be on the same side! Reason HNIC has no anti-fighting gurus is that they are hard to find (ie. they are a MINORITY), it speaks volumes.

[Rob]

I have yet to see a pro-fighting opinion that explains why the best hockey played (Olypmics, Stanley Cup playoffs, Canada Cups) had almost zero fighting and the fans came out in droves! When will some pro-fighter explain why a regular season game with a Probert-Domi fight is more entertaining than Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final without one or Game 3 of the 1987 Canada Cup Final that was quite possibly the best display of hockey ever?

If the coaches have decided that they don't want their players fighting in those situations, doesn't that speak volumes about the value of fighting in meaningful hockey games?

[Andrew]

Hey James! Way to prove me and Damien right! I don't support fighting in hockey, so the logical conclusion you come up with is I must wear a skirt! You're right...anybody who doesn't agree with fighting must be a woman, or a man who wears a skirt. I don't know why I thought you were a knuckle dragger, you obviously have so much class and intelligence.

[Joe Nix]

a more serious issue than fighting is the mania on 'finishing your check', "crashing the net', and 'heavy hitter' players, all often either ineffective to the play of the puck or illegal per the negelected rule book.

on the same Star page,under Golden Age of U.K. hockey
RICK MATSUMOTO Mar. 27, 2007

"Strongman, now a resident of Stony Plain, Alta., was one of six Canadians on hand yesterday at the Hockey Hall of Fame as a new display, depicting the contribution of players from this country to hockey in Britain and Europe, was unveiled.

"What I don't understand is that you can skate the length of the ice, plough a guy into the boards and get away with it," he said. "At the least it's charging or boarding, but I don't know why they ignore it. But on the other hand even if a player is thinking about hooking a guy and they call it.""

(Jack Riley, ex US Olympic and West Point coach wrote me a few years ago that hockey was now 'football on ice')

I suspect other 'old timers',like me, age 75, turn off the sound of moron 'color men' of many networks and only watch the NHL because it's the only hockey widely broadcast. I hope to live long enough to see amateur and/or kids games, probably via the internet. In the '60's and '70's channel 13 in Southern California carried the Minnesota H.S. championship games and college hockey late at night. There's an avenue for the history of hockey sleuths to check on. Hec Highton and/or Stu Nahan of L.A. broadcasting would be the contacts.

[Guy Dompierre]

You don't see fighting in the Olypmics, Stanley Cup playoffs, or Canada Cups because these are usually "one and done" games. Players don't get a chance to build up the hostility that you do when you you see a game time after time.

[Billie Bob]

Let's put it this way. When a fight breaks out why do all the fans go nuts? They are all standing, clapping, cheering and encouraging their guy to win the battle.

Not once have I seen a fan get up and walk out of the stands, nor have I seen the TV channel get flipped while watching the game at a bar. If fighting in hockey is NOT endorsed by the people who pay the salaries then why does this happen?

Peca is a wimp anyway, so who cares what he thinks.

It's a bit perplexing.

[Greg Veysey]

Good job on the anti-fighting stance - don't stop. I have been advocating for years, as have many others, that the NHL needs to adopt an NFL-type approach to headshots. And hey, how about enforcement? That is an even more significant issue for the Board of Governors.

I don't know who and where the lunchpailers are on fighting, but no one, and I mean no one, I know thinks fighting has a place in hockey. We are not casual, uniformed fans either.

Speaking as a suit and recognizing perhaps I spend too much time with suits, the game appears to be rapidly marginalizing itself to many fans who are quickly losing enthusiasm for the more gruesome elements of the game (ACC corporate seats excepted).

Maybe some of us are growing up and realizing the NHL is dangerously close to becoming nothing more than second-rate professional wrestling.

[Jason]

If there is a majority of people out there that are so aghast at Don Cherry (and his ilk), then why was he voted as one of the top ten greatest Candians in 2004? Why is the Don Cherry Rockem Sockem video series one of (if not) the best selling sports series of all time in Canada, breaking records every year? I don't understand. If the majority of people out there can't stand Don Cherry and his pro-fighting stance, then why is he paid all this money to endorse products and why do companies line up to sponsor his first period intermission segment? Why is the Coach's Corner segment still one of the highest rated portions of HNIC?
Maybe...just maybe, there is a large segment of people out there that agree with him and his message. Maybe there is no silent majority against fighting at all....just agendas created by ambitious columnists just to see how far their diatribe can be pushed...

[Adam C]

Note to Guy: the Stanley Cup playoffs are actually best-of-seven series...

The majority of NHL fights are about as exciting as the New Jersey Devils with a lead. Two guys who aren't even mad at each other grab sweaters and wrestle to see who can land the largest number of glancing blows off the other guy's shoulder. Then they get to spend five minutes sitting in the box as a break from the 53 other minutes they spend on their own benches.

Seriously, if the fans love it so much, do it at intermission. Give me one argument not to. It's already contrived and pointless; might as well make it official.

Frontier justice indeed. If any of the Leafs had challenged Janssen after the Kaberle hit, he would have kicked the crap out of them. Sure, the fans might have liked seeing someone stand up for their teammate, but where's the deterrence for Janssen? Now he gets to put Kaberle and McCabe in the hospital, at a cost of some sore knuckles.

Bench clearing brawls used to be part of hockey, too. So were hits from behind. It's time to get rid of the guy who's only paid to take part in staged fights, not to play hockey. It's moronic to let a player like Kaberle suffer a career-threatening injury at the hands of a guy who, based on talent, couldn't play in the AHL.

But what do I know? Here I let my skirt get all wrinkly. And much like Bill Berg, I've never played hockey before...

[Sav P]

All you pro-fighting proponents seem to get so defensive and start calling anyone anti-fighting skirt wearers, but you fail to ever explain why you're right. You guys are like the global warming deniars who don't really ever make a point despite mountains of evidence against them. Why exactly is fighting good, tell me? Does it add anything to the sport? What if in the other leagues (well not MLB) you could just starting kick ass to "protect" your stars or "vent frustrations"? BS, what a ridiculous argument. Fighting does nothing but tarnish a beautiful game. And anyone who thinks fans like hockey because of the fighting is delusional. Hockey is a great spectator sport because of the constant flow and graceful play, not some idiots throwing punches at each others shoulders once a game for 30 seconds. Grow up and move on, the game of hockey will never progress if fighting stays.