"I went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out" — some jackwagon
As a kid what first drew my attention to hockey was an all-out brawl between the Detroit Red Wings and the Boston Bruins that featured eight fights. There was a rookie forward on the Red Wings named Bob Probert who was taking on veteran Boston tough guy Brian Curran. The fight was something I had never seen before in sports.
As young spark plugs, we were taught about sportsmanship and playing "the right way." This was my first exposure to hockey, and I fell in love. What made the scene more awesome to me was that even though these two guys dropped their gloves and tried to kill each other, they were allowed to continue to play in the game!
My little Sparky assesment was: In hockey you can beat the crap out of someone if they are annoying you, and only get penalized five minutes. I was amazed.
In a kinder, softer, "everybody gets a trophy" world we now live in, some folks believe fighting in hockey should be banned. What kind of message is it sending to the kids? It's barbaric and brutal, and shows that the sport has failed to evolve. What if someone gets killed on the ice?
I'm not one of those guys. Since that day in front of my family's 20" 500 lb TV, I became a junkie, specifically a Red Wings junkie. I believe fighting does have a place in hockey and always will. While the number of fighting majors does seem to be on the decline, dropping the mitts is the equal opportunity on-ice policing that allows players the chance to regulate a cheap or dirty play.
Off the soap box I go, now for the action! Here are some of the best fights of the 2011-12 season.
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