After the fisticuffs the first fight in 1922, it has been a tradition to have fought in every hockey game, whether it is spontaneous or premeditated. The dirty teams have initiated and participated in major professional fights to amaze their die-hard fans with thrill and excitement.
‘It is more entertaining to see a hockey game with major professional fights’, said the audience. However, the NHL is focusing to remove staged fights because the only normal flow is needed in-game.
This tradition remained continued for a couple of years until a turn took place in the 21st century. There is growing concerned about head injuries that have led the players more conscious about their health. The new fans are also tempered toward peaceful low time games with less appetite for fights in the league. This attitude has led to a 17% decline in fights from previous seasons.
With gaining a reputation as a rough game, teams have also been ranked as cleanest and dirtiest teams of hockey league. Among the dirties team category, the die-hard fans with NHL coaches and members put these two teams as dirtiest of the league. Boston bruins stood first with 371 major fights while Ducks gained the second rank with 363 major fights in the hockey league. Other teams that are not ranked among aggressive ones but remained involved in fights are Anaheim with nine penalties, Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Philadelphia Flyers, with 323, 316, and 309 professional fights.
But the biggest question for the revival of hockey is ‘will there be any future of fights in hockey’?
The statics showed that fights are getting reduced day by day in the hockey league. Overall, a 70% reduction in fighting numbers is seen and recorded with major fighting remaining just 388 in the 2019/20 season. The fighting statistic also showed that only 250 players have taken the initiative for fighting in the last years.
Controversial talks have arisen in the recent past that proposed ideas of both opponents and supporters of fights. The opponents rejected the fight because of the risk they cause to players with injury- mainly to the brain and time wastage that diverts attention from the game. But old fans have controversial thinking to that. It is your choice to be a supporter or opponent of fights but, this changing habit of hockey may have a bad impact on the future of dirty teams.
Here comes to conclusion with the title of our talk that if NHL gets completely rid of fights, the future of NHL’s dirties teams looks in danger. The dirty teams must have to play without fighting in a friendly environment otherwise, their survival will be difficult. This may be disliked by old die-hard fans to see without a thrill.
Whether fights are liked or disliked by the audience, one main thing is that this issue requires paying full attention to resolve it. For a better revival of hockey in North America, there is a need to bring change in NHL in near future. But fewer fights in NHL in the 21st century may have a bad impact on the future of dirties teams.
