Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Fighting Ain't Fashionable in WHL

Do you like fighting in the Western Hockey League? Get used to seeing less of it this season.
The league is adopting several rules that will have enforcers second guessing themselves prior to engaging in a fight with an opponent.
The most significant rule change is an extra two minute minor penalty for a player who takes his helmet off prior to the start of a fight. That offending player will receive an two minute unsportsmanlike penalty in addition to a five minute major.
Aren't those fights off an opening face-off to a game exciting? Forget it. Any so called 'pre-meditated' fights off a face-off will result in a game misconduct.
An impressive take down by throwing your opponent to the ice following a fight may become history too. If a player deliberately throws a player to the ice during a fight, a game misconduct will be issued. While fighting majors have gone down considerably over the last few years, the drop should be significant this season under these new rules.


5 comments:

bigkev said...

david branch is turning the CHL into a wussy league, whats next no more body checking.

g.k said...

Boooooooo!!!! as in Borrrring!!!!!

J.S. said...

So why did the WHL follow suit? I agree that trying to bash a guys head in using the ice in a fight is vicious and uncalled for. But how many managers and owners are now going to lose players for WEEKS at a time with broken hands and wrists. Once again trying to make an unsafe, fast, and exiting game brutal to watch in Canada. And Americans like the fighting more than we do, so no one will like it. Lets put Nascar on alert now. No passing, no drafting, and limit the ground speed to 70 miles an hour. Now we are sure to take the risk out...but is it worth watching? You decide......

entropyyy said...

pre meditated fights aren't that bad..what if the guys have bad blood or something? they're all basically pre-meditated, i think there's going to be a real grey area there and some questionable calls will be made. Take-downs i can see as a problem,but i mean if the refs can honestly find out whether somebody fell and grabbed ahold of the other guy or something, i mean 2 of the rules just seem like theres a ton of grey area and theres going to be some sketchy calls. the helmet thing is the only one thats really straight-forward.

Regan Bartel said...

I spoke to Bruce Hamilton about the new rules and he has some interesting comments we will have on our pre-game show Thursday night at 7.