Fighting wasn’t put into hockey. No, certainly there was no external architect in this case. Hockey provides the necessary atmosphere to create a fight on its own. You can’t separate fighting and hockey because there is no distinct line to form this separation. Fighting is organic to hockey, tangled in so deep that it would be easier to create a brand new sport rather than pull fighting out.

“A fast body-contact game played by men with clubs in their hands and knives laced to their feet”, hockey as described by the late sports writer, Paul Gallico.

He didn’t mention the hard rubber puck they zip around at 150km/h. Much more than any other team sport, the risk of serious injury or death is present each time a player steps onto the playing surface. You can be tripped up at full speed into the end boards, cross-checked from behind head first into the boards, you can get a hockey stick in the face, hit blocking a shot with your ankle, your leg, your face, cut from a skate blade, blindsided by an oversized wall of human at top speed – the list of dangers playing hockey is endless, both accidental and deliberate. Hockey is like a steam boiler. There is so much potential explosive violence it requires a safety pressure relief valve. Fighting is hockey’s pressure relief valve.

Recently, the Boston Bruins bullied the Buffalo Sabres on their way to a 6-2 victory. Trailing 1-0, Boston’s Milan Lucic lost the puck up ice towards Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller. Lucic lumbered after the puck but lost the race and continued to roll through Miller with a body check breaking the hockey code that dictates goaltenders are off limits. A crowd quickly gathered around Lucic but the Sabres themselves have admitted their on ice response was weak and that Miller deserved better. Miller continued to play but was soon sidelined with injured pride and concussion like symptoms.

The Habs have suffered from the same mistake repeatedly over the last decade. They haven’t responded appropriately when they are bullied because they lacked the manpower and willpower to stand up for their teammates. I can refer you to Zednik-McLaren, and more recently Pacioretty-Chara, and maybe not coincidentally both involved their division rivals, the Boston Bruins.

Lucic was assessed a minor penalty for being “gutless” but Shanahan, the NHL’s judge and jury, would not suspend Lucic explaining there was no rule, concerning the hit on Miller, that required supplementary discipline. You can expect the Sabres to deliver the correct and measured response the next time these two teams meet and I can assure you diplomacy will not reign. » Read more: On Fighting In Hockey