If they ban the fighting? l love watching the highlights of games on SportsCenter, but when they start to show the fights l get bored. Why do they allow fighting?

l think its to set/change pace. that and the players kind of police them self with the fights. you play rough (even if your playing legal rough) you better be ready for a fist or two.

They do not allow it. Fighting is penalized with 5 minutes in the box. I've seen fights in football games too but it is usually cheap shots. I've seen bench clearing brawls in baseball but they do not get penalized.

l am a lifelong fan of hockey and would be very upset if fighting were to leave the game. It is part of the game. Sometimes it is to get your team fired up, other times it is to defend a teammate. Most hockey traditionalists would be very dismayed if fighting went extinct.

You get bored when they show fighting then maybe mens hockey is not for you.They do not allow fighting in womens hockey.Maybe you'd like that better.You are the first person that has ever said a hockey fight is boring.Especially if they show it on SportsCenter.(Usually means it was a good fight)

If you ban fighting then high sticks and slashing penalties sky rocket and players will definitely get more injured.

l think l would pretty much be done as well if they removed fighting it is an important part of the game and does belong. l also wish people would stop beating this dead horse. Gary Bettman is already destroying the fan base if fighting goes it would be the final nail in the coffin. l think they're trying to americanize the game if you will forgive the expression, they want high scoring games with lots of finesse, so basically they are trying to turn it into basketball on ice!!

Yeah, the rink really empties out when the fights occur.

Fighting happens for many reasons.

Not even going to go in to why its allowed because l am confused a bit by ur question. No offense man.but here goes: So from the context of ur full question l am pulling here. it seems ur not a fan of the game, & give no indication u watch hockey aside from casually seeing highlights on Sportscenter. Why in the world would anyone care if it bores you? More importantly why would anyone consider banning a part of a game for those whom r not fans? Unless u watch the games, go to them, & take interest in the NHL.the NHL does not care that u r bored. My suggestion. get up & go to the john when the NHL highlights r on.

Yes. l am convinced that this is one of the things holding hockey back from growing. People see a couple of goons swinging at each other, while the referees skate in circles around them & look on, doing nothing. It makes hockey look like pro wrestling.

It is an embarrassing sideshow that has nothing to do with the game.

As much as l dislike the current commissioner, he is trying to crack down on fighting. But it is not enough.

People make excuses that it is ''part of the game'' & that guys have to blow off steam. Great stickwork, big goalie saves, hard checks into the boards, & open-ice hits r ''part of the game,'' but fighting is not intrinsic to the action or the outcome. Football is a rough game, too, but l do not see guys exchanging blows at the 50-yard line. In fact, if they did, the refs would break them up & toss them out of the game.

Fighting is not a part of college hockey. It is not a part of European hockey. Even the Red Wings do not need it to win -- they were dead LAST in the league last year in fighting majors, & they still managed to win the Cup. Somehow, college hockey & Euro hockey r not infested with an epidemic of high sticks & other cheap shots that people claim would happen if there were no fighting in hockey. It is just a lame excuse to justify the fighting.

I've been watching hockey for about 15 years, & when a fight breaks out, l usually turn the channel. And this is coming from someone who loves contact sports. Football, rugby, & hockey r my holy trinity of sports. l love the contact, but if l wanted a boxing match, that is what I'd go see.

Good question. l hope more people begin to share ur sentiment.

Fighting is part of the sport! One teams bruisers gets physical with another teams star & the other team has to be able to respond. It keeps the level intensity we all love watching really high. l makes the game what it is. l do not think they should change anything about fighting other than making it more of a penalty. l think the league needs to step in & really punish players & teams for incidents like the Steve Moore sucker punch. But fighting is not the reason for bad sportsmanship. l want to see the league become a league of good sports who just so often fight each other.

l will go slowly.

-Fighting is not ''legal''. It is punished by a major penalty (5 minutes).
-The other major team sports have fights; u know.the bench-clearing baseball fights (including guys running from the bullpen), the slap-and-tickle stuff of the NBA, & ur various scraps in the NFL.
-The officials, however, will permit two willing combatants to go at it until they can safely break up the fight, or one of them is in a vulnerable position. Compare this to the MLB & NBA equivalents, & the NHL has a safer, saner method (and with all due respect to MLB/NBA, making two guys go mano-a-mano would pretty much put paid to any altercations).
-The Europeans make fighting a game misconduct penalty; no dropping gloves but they get their sticks up. They still punch but just keep their gloves on. Not really sure that is better.
-If you're relying on ESPN to show NHL highlights.you must not see much, since they hardly ever show hockey stuff. In fact, the last time l was in the US (mid December); l worked out for 60 minutes in the hotel gym; it had ESPN Sportscenter on, & they did not show one NHL highlight. They did, however, ''treat'' their viewing audience to a lengthy dissertation & feature all about some minor bowl game between two teams l never heard of.

Fighting is part of the game. So if its part of the game then try another sport besides lacrosse (they allow fighting too). How cant you like the fighting? whatever man