Very good read on Boogaard

It is a bit long but well worth the read of Boogard's rise to the NHL. Really hammers home how tough it can be for some of these kids trying to make a name for themselves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-a-boy-learns-to-brawl.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3

Very thought-provoking; thanks for posting it Homer.

Rangers and the Wild should be ashamed of themselves its a disgrace from both teams right across the board

Reading that made me genuinely sad.

Not what I was expecting.

Yeah, I read this the other day and must admit there were points when I had a lump in my throat. Quite a bleak picture is painted and just makes me think that Bettman may think he's building a great commercial enterprise in the NHL, but these are troubled times in the game.

Anyone who follows Marc Savard on Twitter will be worried for him.

Welshmapleleaf wrote:Anyone who follows Marc Savard on Twitter will be worried for him.

Extremely worried.

He tweeted the other night about being sick of the headaches - seems he's ok one day and struggling to get up out of bed the next. Terrible, and I fear that not only may he never play again but his life will be blighted by it.

That saddens and sickens me.

The Rangers have ignored Len Boogaard since the funeral.
The Wild seem embarrassed by his enforcer status.
The NHL and Bettman seem to deny the link between repeated blows to the head and CTE, which is out and out lunacy. The NHL then refuse to let anyone speak about the case, even though he was under their program of care.

Shocking. The worst bit is that how many more guys will suffer this problem before the NHL does something about it?

The bit that really got me was the part where the writer describes the scene of an nhl fight. How it is almost a bit of light relief for the fans. The commentators laughingas if its all a bit of fun. When you see the affect it has on peoples lives it really makes you think twice about enjoying that minute of mayhem.

rocknrollnobody wrote:

The Rangers have ignored Len Boogaard since the funeral.

That is the worst part of it all in my opinion! A real lack of decency by the organisation.

I've seen the clip where the Wild get his family out on the ice on 'Derek Boogaard Night' and present them with his shirt, etc. After reading the piece again, Ive watched some of the clips again on you tube of his fights. Brutal.

Have a look at the one where he gets his nose broken, I think by DJ King. Having stood in the stands and cheered on the fights, I'm seeing this in a whole different light now. If it's outlawed nearly everywhere else but the NHL, it's time to have a rethink. Or will it take a superstar / cash cow like Crosby to have to finish playing for Bettman to sit up and take notice?

Very interesting article. Cheers, Homer.

Personally I like the fighting and I imagine a lot of enforcers revel in the role. Reading that piece it seems to suggest that Boogaard never felt totally comfortable with his job but was simply desperate to play in the NHL. That's a terrible shame for the guy.

I was surprised at the extent of the fighting culture at the junior level. Im all for fighting in the NHL, but it shouldn't be happening at 16. It may be a little extreme, but its not a million miles away from those kids who cage fight.

The written article and the video has been a bit of an eye opener on what a tough and scary job being an enforcer entails. But isn't it fair to say that this position on the roster is gradually getting phased out of the NHL? Maybe it's no bad thing if the goons disappear but the fighting stays with various tougher characters stepping up ocassionally rather than leaving it to the same individual every night.

That's my problem with fighting. When you have a guy who's only reason of being there is to fight you often get staged fight which have no point in the game in my opinion.

I think fighting has its place in the league as a way of policing other teams taking liberties with your better players but staged fights with no reason have to be stopped or limited.

I was talking with Marc and Jonzee about it last night and maybe the 5 minute major isn't enough of a deterrent? Especially for a player who tends to spend more time in the box than they do on the ice.

mc_homer wrote:That's my problem with fighting. When you have a guy who's only reason of being there is to fight you often get staged fight which have no point in the game in my opinion.

I think fighting has its place in the league as a way of policing other teams taking liberties with your better players but staged fights with no reason have to be stopped or limited.

I was talking with Marc and Jonzee about it last night and maybe the 5 minute major isn't enough of a deterrent? Especially for a player who tends to spend more time in the box than they do on the ice.

However, the counter argument here is the staged fight often disrupts the flow of the game - very useful if you're under the kosh and the opposition is firing shots at you like a M134 GE minigun (the big bugger that Blaine has in Predator). Instead of calling a timeout, you send on some thug to slap some fella, breaks up the opposition momentum and hopefully (in theory) you turn the tide and go on to win.

I thought the league tried to clamp down on the staged fights at one point. I have seen officials try to break these up immediately but I guess there sometimes is a grey area between a brawl that develops organically and one where two guys simply give a nod to each other. But yes, tougher penalties would certainly directly impact the amount of fighting in a game. Diminishing the enforcers influence means that their spot on the roster is more likely going to go to a guy that can contribute a little more to the play.

leafygiraffe wrote:However, the counter argument here is the staged fight often disrupts the flow of the game - very useful if you're under the kosh and the opposition is firing shots at you like a M134 GE minigun (the big bugger that Blaine has in Predator). Instead of calling a timeout, you send on some thug to slap some fella, breaks up the opposition momentum and hopefully (in theory) you turn the tide and go on to win.

This is where the grey area lies really because I wouldn't class those as staged fights. They are fights to swing momentum and actually have a purpose.

The staged fights I was referring to are when you get two enforcers out there and no obvious reason for them to go at it. They just decide yeah time to go. Case in point was on Twitter, quite openly, Janssen challenged Barch before the season had even begun and true to their word they went at it. As amusing as it was to see that and yes it is rare but these are the fights that have no reason.

The other fights that I have a problem with are when a guy lays out a player cleanly and has to fight because of it. If they had harsher penalties for being the one to jump in here could cut that down to only when they feel there has really been a dirty hit rather than having to back up an action that is legal. What next fighting because you scored a goal?

Actually the Rangers and Lightning came close to that last night......

I always think of guys like Getzlaf/Shanahan (power forwards who are able to drop the gloves), who can add points to the board, but also be a deterrent.

Maybe the goon in the team is stopping the rest of the guys from being a physical presence, because they know they have an enforcer who can do the dirty work for them.

Jonathan Ericsson is a guy I think fits the bill to how fighting should be done. He plays hard, and will fight when required, but he is first and foremost at top 6 defenceman. Dorsett was unhappy with Ericsson's play earlier this year, and decided to drop the gloves, Ericsson obliged by beating him soundly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NGVcsMxOCQ

Equally, I agree with Homer about clean hits. This was a perfectly clean hipcheck, but the fight that ensued was simply because a guy got poleaxed, not because of any dirty play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoG5Ie8E93c

mc_homer wrote:
The other fights that I have a problem with are when a guy lays out a player cleanly and has to fight because of it. If they had harsher penalties for being the one to jump in here could cut that down to only when they feel there has really been a dirty hit rather than having to back up an action that is legal. What next fighting because you scored a goal? ..

Yeah, that one annoys me too. Happened last night in the Bruins game. Paille took a hit from Barch. It was perfectly legal (NESN will tell you it was 'questionable'), just very hard and they clashed head (Paille actually missed the rest of the game). Thornton and Campbell both dropped the gloves and went for him. Thornton got there first and beat the snot out of him.

And then Boychuk cleanly hit Santorelli and was challenged by Skille.

rocknrollnobody wrote:I always think of guys like Getzlaf/Shanahan (power forwards who are able to drop the gloves), who can add points to the board, but also be a deterrent.

Maybe the goon in the team is stopping the rest of the guys from being a physical presence, because they know they have an enforcer who can do the dirty work for them.

Parros is obviously the enforcer on the Ducks but I've got to be honest a lot of the interesting fights are between guys that aren't quite so brutally proficient with their hands. I love seeing guys like Perry, Getzy and Brookbank go at it (although not too much!) with the opposition rather than leaving big George the task each time. Let's keep the fighting but share the burden around amongst the team.

lol! 3 seconds. Seems a bit stupid. If I'm watching a hockey game I expect at least to see a bit of hockey before I see a fight...

Three seconds? Amateurs.

Soon be time for the Stars v Bruins rematch. Not sure they're going to beat the record of three fights in the first four seconds.

Bring it

I'm just hoping we come out of that game with fewer than the 4 injuries we suffered last time