Fighting is a core tenet to the game of hockey, but it still should come secondary to the actual play, and players need to respect the hockey code that surrounds fighting.
Recently, a video surfaced from a minor hockey league game that shows a group of players who had absolutely no intention on even playing hockey, and were solely out there for the fights.
In the video, the centreman is visibly not Eve preparing for the faceoff - he's looking to fight. However, it's a winger on the white team that comes straight out of the draw dropping his gloves, and grabbing the nearest opponent to pull him to the ice and lay haymaker punches. As the camera pans around the ice, several different fights across the ice can be seen going on.
The first fighter seen on the white team goes on to grab another player and beat him, going on relentlessly until a player from the opposing team hopped the boards and took care of him. The referees settled the situation soon after, and quite a few penalty minutes must have been given out.
Honestly, lower hockey leagues need to do a better job of curtailing senseless and mass fighting like this. It's never a good look for the league, and this kind of environment doesn't develop good hockey players, or even great teammates. Fighting at the minor level should be punishable to extreme measures.
