Blame the entire culture of the game. Brawling and violence have been present throughout the sports entire history. Sure, you could eliminate violence from hockey period, but would anyone watch it? "The best games are the ones with a touch of hate in the air." ( Jamie Fitzpatrick Cultivating Todd Bertuzzi March 11th, 2004 ) Everyone enjoys a good old rivalry and enjoy watching people get hit. Of course as long as the hits are legal. This also explains why fans love fights so much. " A fight often acts as an ignition switch, stoking the passions of every fan in the building. The players bear down; intensity rises; the plot thickens; the game is on. " ( Jamie Fitzpatrick Cultivating Todd Bertuzzi- March 11th, 2004 ) The problem is the media specializes in taking a small thing and blowing it way out of proportion. It sells papers. So its no wonder that much of what is written lacks truth or basic knowlede of the game. Fans love a player's mean side. You can easily tell by just listening to a game. When a player hits another player hard, or starts a fight, the fans immidiately rise to their feet and start cheering. Tie Domi, a long time fan favorite of Leaf fans, is one of the most recognized players ever for his role. He is always getting the fans into the game by either landing a vicious hit or dropping the gloves and going all out in a tilt with an opponent from the other team. This gets the fans up off their seats cheering, and it also puts fans in the seats, period. The downside to this is a player must know when and where to draw the line. Meaning when a fight becomes assault or can threaten a players life. Sadly, the line is very fuzzy and in desperate need of clarification. Garry Bettman, league commissioner thinks otherwise " This is not a part of our game, it has no place in our game, and it will not be tolerated in our game" ( http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id1756682 ), commenting on Bertuzzi's act on Moore. But how can he stand against that incident but allow the rest go because the victim is unharmed? It's really hard to say. The Bertuzzi incident was replayed across the U.S. and Canada, and he and the league were both bashed by reporters in both countries, including a headline that read " Does Someone Have to Die "? ( Toronto Star, March 11th 2004) A very good point indeed. Does someone have to die before the league really grabs a threshold of unnessesary violence or will this be a ongoing problem in the sport of hockey? Jamie Fitzpatrick states, "Hockey will always be the barely civilized game" ( Cultivating Todd Bertuzzi- March 11th, 2004 ) The game will never be the most popular, or win the hearts of editors and "self appointed custodians of sport". But if your a fan of the game, you've learned to accept that long before your decision to become a fan was made.

Picture this. You are at a junior league's hockey game watching children ages 8-11 play hockey infront of their parents, trying to impress their friends, family and coaches. Out of no where, a player decided to slam another player, much smaller than he is, into the boards injuring him. It is obvious where this kid got the idea of hitting other players. It's a common thing seen in every professional hockey game and is looked at as normal. However, at such a young age, children cannot determine what type of physical play is acceptable and which is dangerous and can cause harm. We can hope that these kids aren't intentionally going out and trying to hurt other players but how can we stop them from taking oppurtunities to hit someone hard when it is granted. Hits like these are what people remember, especially kids. They idolize their favorite players and want to be like them. What if this one kids favorite player happens to be an enforcer on a team and he wants to play like him. He sees his idol hitting players hard, so he aswell wants to. Only thing is those men are professionals and know that when you step onto the ice, any one is fair game to be hit and hit hard. Children however, are not all looking to hit or fight, they are out there to have fun and play the game. As children get older, hitting becomes more popular and these events will happen more and more. Hitting in hockey is actually introduced at age 11. ( http://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/weekly/jan21-05/emery-hockey.html ) When this happens, players are "taught" how to properly hit another player in the attempt to prevent so many injuries, but this isn't what is causing the problem in minor hockey. Clean hits rarely will ever cause an injury. They will also rarely ever send a player flying or knock him down hard and that hard hitting is what pleases fans most. These hits are what players look for because they know they will get noticed and sadly, the majority of attention after the hit, if the player is alright of course, is positive attention. The STOP Program, introduced in 1998 is a great example and attempt to minimize careless hitting in hockey. STOP an acronym for Safety Towards Other Players, is a program that " teaches hockey players the dangers of checking from behind. Players wear a 3" patch in the shape of a STOP sign on the back of their jerseys so that it is visible to incoming players." ( http://www.noha-hockey.com/stop_program_files/stop_program.htm ) It is meant to remind players to stop and think of the consiquences of a illegal hit. Since 1998 over 300 000 patches have been distibuted across North America. Ken Moore, president of the Calgary Minor Hockey Association says " The whole bottom line is getting respect back on the ice" ( http://www.ucalgary.ca/oncampus/weekly/jan21-05/emery-hockey.html ) If a player respects the fact that he can hurt someone if he hits him uncleanly or without the player knowing he is going to get hit, it could and probably would drop the amount of injuries drastically. Wayne Greztky, inargueably they greatest player to ever play in the NHL, never was known for his physical play, for dropping the gloves, or playing with a mean streak. He was a player of class and finess. Sadly, something we rarely see in the league today. If children would idolize players like Wayne and realize that hockey would be much better played safe, we wouldn't be in the hole we are in, dealing with career ending or even life ending injuries. We are yet to have a death of a player due to carelessness of another hockey player on the ice, but we have come close, and if things aren't changed, sadly our first victim might not be far from his fate.