Quote:
Originally Posted by silent_jay
Of course they could fight at the Olympics if they wanted to, you could kick another player if you wanted to as well - but guess what? It's against the rules. Why doesn't fighting happen? It's against the rules. Coaches picking skilled players has nothing to do with it, it's against IIHF rules to fight in Olympic tournaments, or any IIHF tournament for that matter. Read the IIHF rules of fighting. The one on fighting is rule 528 – Fisticuffs or Roughing.
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That's the point I'm trying to make - the cost of fighting at big tournaments is too high. You can get kicked out of the game and lose it for your team.
However, the games we've seen at the Olympics, Canada Cup, etc, have been some of the best ever. The games are not interrupted by useless fights and skilled players get to play the game as it should be played. I'd trade 82 regular season games for a hat trick of Rendez-Vous 87 games.
You know, in the European pro leagues there is no fighting - yet somehow the game survives and prospers.
If you ditched fighting you think there would be any drop in attendance at the Bell Centre or ACC? Not a chance. The only place it might drop would be in places hockey shouldn't be to begin with - the Nashvilles and Carolinas of the world. Which would be fine - then maybe real hockey towns like Hamilton or Winnipeg could get a franchise.