Fish on...

Todd

that was great--what a fight-gotta be some chicklets on the ice after that one

Some pretty fast hands. A little well earned respect from each of them.

I liked how the crowd cheered and the other players were all tapping their sticks in appreciation, too.

Fish on...

Todd

Don't know much about hockey. I thought the purpose was to put the puck in the net, not the fist in the mouth.

I hear many people that dont know the game-hard to explain unless you've played the game. It can be a very chippy game and much of what becomes a fight is what happens behind the play like in front of the net or in the corners--like how a guy puts the butt end of the stick in your rib cage and the ref nevers sees it. Or a goon takes out a top player.

Fans seem to like seeing more than just a shoving match--"Wanna go?" they throw em down and go at it.

There is a code. In fact a good book about the subject "The Code"

Hockey is for women Yo!!!

Just like golf...

Hockey was born as a diversion. In a place of long nights, short days, cold temperatures, frozen lakes and frozen streambeds.

Wouldn't that environment breed a tempestuous sort?

I used to be one of those guys in the black and white striped sweaters...

Those linesmen could have stopped this one before it even started. When the two players were jockeying for position with their hands up, the linesmen could have stepped between them quickly, and stopped it. But they didn't. That tells me they're told not to. As in, "The crowds like the fights, so let'm go at it, until they decide to stop. Don't do it for them."

The length of the fight indicates that it was either early in the game, or it was between two guys who normally don't play very much. Most fights last a few seconds because of the amount of energy expended is huge. If they've been playing, they don't have the energy to fight. But this one went much longer than normal. So it was either early in the game, or these guys don't normally see the ice. I say it was the latter.

Good to see that neither player was seriously hurt.