Fighting ban starts with QMJHL, but other junior leagues need to follow suit

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Imagine if a 20-year old adult punched your 16-year old son walking down the street. You’d be outraged, right? You’d probably file a police report and press charges. So why is it any different if the act is carried out during the course of a hockey game?

It shouldn’t be. It’s assault. And that’s why I think the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is making the right call to ban fighting starting with the 2023-24 season. It’s ridiculous to think minors should be subjected to that type of violence, willing or not.

Go ahead, try to tell me why you think kids should be bare knuckle fighting on the ice for the enjoyment of paying customers. Last I checked, junior teams charge for admission. And you know there are still people who show up just to see violence.

Does that sit right with you? It certainly doesn’t for me. I can’t imagine sitting in the stands watching my child endure avoidable brain trauma that has the potential to affect him for the rest of his life. If that makes me soft, then so be it.

I played junior hockey during the days of the three-ring circus. It was the NAHL in the late ’90s and early 2000s and – to put it bluntly – shit was crazy. Fights in every zone. Sixteen-year-old kids getting their heads bashed in by 21-year-old goons who weren’t good enough to make higher level junior teams.

Back then, I didn’t think much of it. I even enjoyed it. Fights were exciting. It was thrilling when a teammate beat the wheels off an opponent.

With age, I’ve come to realize just how stupid it all was. Hardly anyone made it from the NAHL to the NHL back then. But there was no shortage of fisticuffs. It’s just how it was.

It makes me sick to think about the sheer number of brain injuries that took place during the two years I played junior hockey. Especially considering it was actively encouraged by coaches around the league. Adults sending children out to fight. No helmets. No gloves. On skates.

Sometimes it was an act of retribution. Other times it was an attempt to change the momentum of the game. But mostly it was sheer bravado. Kids trying to prove they were man enough to play hockey at the higher levels. They would do anything to get on the scoresheet.

I’ll never forget a preseason tournament that our team played in Detroit. There were junior teams from all over America. And we had this guy on our roster – a 20-year-old that had played in the lower-level AWHL the previous season – who was an absolute maniac. We all knew he was a loose cannon.

It didn’t take long for him to find a taker: a kid from the Boston area wearing a full cage, too young to wear a half shield. Back then you had to be 18 to go without facial protection. And in the NAHL, half shields weren’t even mandatory. Just a bucket.

They took their helmets off. Squared up. And my teammate ended this poor kid’s career on the spot. Broken nose and orbital. Missing teeth. He stayed on his knees for what seemed like an eternity as the pool of blood grew around him.

What if that was your son? It makes me queasy thinking about it. And it was so completely unnecessary. The fight had nothing to do with the game.

I think that’s important to understand. The object of hockey is to score more goals than the other team. Fighting does not accomplish that. It’s ancillary.

I don’t hear complaints about the lack of fighting in the Olympics. Or NCAA Div. I hockey. Or the women’s game.

Yet the old argument still exists that players need to fight in junior hockey so they’re prepared for the pro game. Which is downright silly. Fighting is outlawed in Europe and NCAA hockey. Yet that’s where a large percentage of NHL players come from.

Remember how tough George Parros and Kevin Westgarth were? Those guys played Div. I hockey at Princeton University. An Ivy League school. And Brady Tkachuk – the captain of the Ottawa Senators – seems to be doing just fine when he sheds the mitts despite attending Boston University.

But here’s where I want to draw a very clear distinction: I don’t want to see fighting outlawed in professional hockey. If two consenting adults want to have a go, that’s their decision. With a few caveats.

I can’t stand staged fights. And I don’t like the way things currently are in the NHL where heavy hits – clean or not – seem to warrant a fight in response. I would much rather see fighting occur in the moment between two players that are simply so angry at one another that duking it out is the only answer. Crimes of passion, if you will.

But fighting junior hockey? It should be banned by every junior league in North America. It’s unnecessary. And it’s exceedingly dangerous considering the difference in strength between 16-year-old boys and 20-year-old men. The damage fighting causes to the brain is well documented. Lasting effects caused by CTE are real.

I think the QMJHL is doing the right thing, and I hope other leagues follow suit. There’s no justifiable reason to keep risking the health of children just for the sake of profit or tradition.

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Fighting ban starts with QMJHL, but other junior leagues need to follow suit

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