No Pictures, Please!

Fighting pictures, that is...as addressed by a fellow reader to the Raleigh News and Observer...

"Jerry Barker of Raleigh wrote a letter to the sports editor, published Sunday, that urged The N&O to not publish photographs of NHL players fighting. Barker wrote: “Do everything you can to help promote good sportsmanship, positive fan behavior, civility and good, clean competition.”..."

I will admit that when I first got into hockey in 2002, I was very mixed about fighting...but that all changed rather rapidly when I noticed how much of a necessary evil it is. Without fighting, you would have crap like what Pronger did to McAmmond in Saturday's game, what Scott Stevens has done to quite a few players in his career, etc. happen way more often than such events have overall. I have been AND still am of complete belief that there is no better way of telling a team and/or certain members on it to "cut the crap" than fighting.

If there is anything in that sentence from Barker's letter that throws me for a loop, it's that bit about "...positive fan behavior...". Bzuh? Has the N&O published pictures of fans fighting that I have somehow missed?! Last time I checked, it's pictures of PLAYERS fighting, NOT FANS.

But overall, Mr. Barky Von Schnauzer needs to get a muz...er, grip. And the following goes for not only him, but also a lot of those trying to soften up hockey by having the fisticuffs removed: It ain't gonna happen, OK?! I have lost count of how many times I have laughed at the nuts who say one of the most beautiful things about "the new NHL" is the "the lack of fighting"...I don't know what games these people are looking at, but I am noticing just as many fights now as when the NHL was "old".

And speaking of "the old NHL"...in closing, here is a moment from then that proves that even the most sportsman-like of players found/find themselves in a situation where they had/have to put up their dukes...and were/are not afraid to do so.



Current Music: "Don't Forget Those Forgotten" by Nelson Rangell

No Fighting Policy?

Well, this revelation from The Hockey News and Coach Laviolette certainly explains why there was a lack of retaliation against Garnet Exelby and the Thrashers the last time they and the Canes met.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/en/news/news.asp?idNews=22147

http://www.thescoreboards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6462

http://www.letsgocanes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7478

Carolina coach Peter Laviolette makes no bones about the way he expects his players to act in games.

“I have a very strict no-fighting policy for our team,” Laviolette says. “Last year in the playoffs (defenseman) Mike Commodore got into a fight and I said, ‘OK, that’s it. No more fighting.’ I simply cannot afford to lose a player like Mike Commodore to an injury he may sustain in a fight.

“Take a guy like Erik Cole. If we allowed him to fight, I know he would do it. Now if he gets hurt in a fight, our team has lost a very valuable asset. How do I justify that? I can’t. It just doesn’t make sense to me to allow our guys to fight.”

Instead, Laviolette elected to dress skilled players on his fourth line, guys who, in a pinch, could fill in on one of his top two lines. A player such as Chad LaRose, for instance. LaRose, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound speedy winger, couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag, but he scored 61 goals and 117 points in 67 games for Plymouth in his final year of junior and helped the Hurricanes by skating an occasional regular shift and killing penalties. Laviolette also worked skill players Andrew Ladd and Josef Vasicek into the lineup.

So...lemme ask you this Lavy: Would it make ANY LICK OF SENSE if Staal and/or Wardo were hurt/injured by Exelby or another team's goon?

I'm very well aware that we are (unfortunately) approaching the day and age of hardly, IF any fighting in NHL games. But crap like what Exelby did somewhat recently is why I feel that some semblance of fighting/retaliation should remain. As much as I respect Lavy and all he has already done for the Canes, I'm afraid that I have to strongly disagree with him on his "No Fighting Policy".

Current Music: "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" by Paul McCartney and Wings

Edit as of November 11th, 2006, 10:35 AM:

http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/509235.html

Laviolette further explains the "No Fight Policy" in this morning's N&O...

Laviolette instituted the policy after the first game of the second-round series against the New Jersey Devils. In the third period of that game, with the Canes on their way to a blowout 6-0 win, Devils tough guy Cam Janssen picked a fight with Mike Commodore in front of the Carolina bench.

Commodore answered the call -- Janssen was hit with extra penalties for instigating the fight -- but Laviolette decided at that point there was little gain worth the risk of losing a player like Commodore to a broken hand.

"If the other team is down 4-0 in the third period and looking to fight, players sometimes feel pressure," Laviolette said. "I'm not looking for it. Don't do it."