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My wife and I got our hockey fix last night at the semi-pro Grizzlies game. Our team performed miserably, demonstrating an absolute lack of passing finesse.
We were down three to nothing in the second period when the other team's star player went down, and a bench-clearing brawl ensued. The refs had just managed to break it all up when the two goalies started going at it. The refs were too busy controlling the other players, so they just let the goalies go. It was five minutes of knockdown, dragout action. We ended up with four players from each team in the penalty box and two players ejected for game misconduct. It was the best hockey game I've ever attended.
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I wonder that myself, Jay. Is it that hockey is such a boring sport that without the prospect of a fight nobody would come?
Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
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Hockey as it is currently in the NHL can be pretty dull. Bettman claims that if/when the next season starts, they will be putting in rule changes to make the game more exciting again. If every game was as fun as the Flames playoff games last year, I'd get season tickets.
In the meantime, there's the National Lacrosse League.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Pretty much. It's like car racing. Without the left turns. And the cars. And the exhaust. Okay, not like car racing at all, except you watch races for fights. At least hockey isn't THAT terribly boring, that I can watch it without the fights and be okay.
I mean, baseball! Baseball has fights. Bench clearing brawls! Yankees vs. Sox!
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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The games at the E-Center aren't even about hockey. Two-thirds of the crowd are there for the fighting and the beer. The other third is there for the hockey skanks. It's the West Valley mullet crowd.
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Exactly, mack. That exact comparison came to mind. I went to one car race, and the only interesting parts were the crashes. Without that, there would be no point.
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Went to the hockey game tonight, Who cares about hockey, we want a fight! Come on, boys, it ain't too tough -- All ya gotta do is get a little rough!
I was in the pep band. We got bored when there weren't fights. One guy named his band "Bloodshovel," after the snow shovel they used to clean up the ice after fights.
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You had a high school hockey team? I guess that makes sense, but I guess I lived too long in Texas. That just seems -- I don't know. Bizarre.
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The mascot at the E-Center makes snowballs from the churned-up ice and throws it into the crowd. It seems like great fun until you realize that the snowballs are mostly spittle and blood.
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The only teams my high school had, as far as I know, were Football, Basketball, and Volleyball.
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So if they would do away with fighting in hockey would there be less fans? And if made it so wrecks were somehow almost impossible in auto racing would the fans go away there too? Sure there are fights every now and then in football, basketball, and baseball. But not very often and they aren’t put up with. Fans of those go to see the actual sport. Where as most racing fans live for the wrecks and hockey fans can’t wait for the fights. Not sure I have much of a point on this. Just guess it’s interesting.
Posts: 2845 | Registered: Oct 2003
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My brother in-law started me on hockey shortly after I married his sister. He had a tradition of going to the annual bikini night, and he would always get seats on the corner ice where most of the hard checking occurs and where most of the fights start. We tooks cowbells and those long plastic horns to make noise.
There were a couple of years there when it was common for someone in the crowd to throw a trout onto the ice whenever the ref made a bad call or failed to make a call. Unfortunately the trout tossers also liked the corner ice and would sometimes be seated behind us. We didn't mind so much until a particularly ripe trout flew apart in mid air directly over our heads. The whole section smelled like Kipper Snacks.
Bikini night at the hockey game was interesting because a different crowd would turn out, and rather than hockey skanks working the crowd during the breaks, there would be professionals working the crowd. The real show on bikini night was actually out in the concourse.
After a few bikini night "wardrobe malfunctions" Larry Miller, a prominent local Mormon and sports team owner, finally cancelled bikini night altogether.
Now my wife and I just go to the hockey game to kill the February blues.
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I'm a hockey fan but not really a fan of the fighting. I don't think it needs to stay a part of the sport to keep the game exciting. There is a lot of action in hockey without the fighting.
Posts: 1336 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:The mascot at the E-Center makes snowballs from the churned-up ice and throws it into the crowd. It seems like great fun until you realize that the snowballs are mostly spittle and blood.
That's like a bio-hazard, dude.
Posts: 7600 | Registered: Jan 2001
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The best part of fighting is it's inclusion in hockey video games (taken to its pinnacle in Mutant League Hockey) but I certainly don't watch it for the fights. In fact, I've never met someone who watches it for the fights. I've heard people say "everyone watches it for the fights" and "My friend watches it for the fights" but the actual people remain elusive to me.
I admit a good solid hit may make me exlaim "Woah nelly. BAM! He wallpapered that guy! Absolutely shilaced him!" but fights are pretty "meh" in that regard. Even in bars and at actual games solid hits seem to illicit more of a reaction than fighting. Not to mention that the ratings of the World Juniors keeps soaring, no fights there, and the olympics is always high, no fights there either. I think you'd be surprised at how little people really care about fighting.
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