Something to Fight For?

We fight for the people we love. Family, friends, and goalies all hold special places in our hearts and fall under the umbrella of individuals who receive unconditional protection. However, there is a trend developing in the NHL which I find not only ridiculous, but detrimental to our great game.

Check out this "fight" between Carlo Colaiacovo of the St. Louis Blues and Blair Jones of the Lightning. Jones had just laid out Colaiacovo's teammate (Brad Boyes) with a hard, albeit clean open ice hit. Sure, Boyes went into the boards awkwardly, but there was nothing inherently dirty about the hit. Immediately following the hit, however, Colaiacovo jumps Boyes, forcing him into a fight. Both get five for fighting, with Colaiacovo getting an extra two minutes for instigating.

Let's get one thing straight; if Jones' hit on Boyes is dirty, Colaiacovo was right to jump in. NHL players need to be held accountable for cheap shots, especially in today's concussion-plagued NHL. What we saw, however, was a player having to stand up and fight for dishing out a completely clean body check. He did nothing wrong, but still had to answer the bell as if he had. You will see fights like this almost every night in today's NHL. A clean body check on a skill player is followed by a mobbing and an unnecessary fight.

Blair Jones, in this situation, is stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he doesn't fight, he is labeled a pussy and will be followed around the rest of the night until he finally "answers the bell." But if he does stand up to Colaiacovo, he has to, well, fight. I think it's pretty well understood that fighting is fun for everyone except the two involved. Getting punched in the face wasn't on Jones' list of things to do that game.

While you're at it, check out this one between Sidney Crosby and Keith Ballard after Ballard up-ends Evgeni Malkin with a beautiful, clean hip check. Read everything I just wrote above, substituting "Crosby" for Colaiacovo and "Ballard" for Jones. Let me just add that while I respect Crosby's willingness to fight, he made two mistakes here: 1) Fighting Keith Ballard over a perfectly clean hit, and 2) Fighting Keith Ballard. Ouch.

This new trend is ridiculous. Having to stand up and fight just for laying out a perfectly good hit is completely against everything good about this game. The last thing we need is players afraid to make the big hit because they know they'll have to fight for it afterward. It sucks life out of the game.

Let the players hit. Let players fight those who take unrighteous liberties with their teammates. And please, PLEASE, let me hear it for Mike Fisher getting engaged to Carrie Underwood! Holla! Yet another testament to how hockey players are the coolest athletes on the planet. Also, if Carrie takes his last name, she will be Carrie Fisher (you Star Wars fans will get this).

Peace.