Man, has hockey changed in the past 20 or so years. We have gone from it was a full out battle on the ice to a game where there is now minimal hitting. Last night’s Bruins vs. Sabers game was a prime example. Near the end of last night’s first period with the Bruins down 1-0 there was a marginal hit upon Bruins forward David Backes.
Backes left the game and did not return as the Bruins pulled off a great comeback and won 4-2. But it was what happened after that hit that really set me off. McQuaid came out to take care of some business and stand up for his teammate when the linesmen inexplicably broke up the up the fight.
Both McQuaid and Sabers forward Will Carrier both clearly dropped the gloves and wanted to throw some blows but the linesman would have none of that. In this case, it turned out even worse. When both linesmen stepped in it made it even easier for Carrier to land some powerful punched on McQuaid.
It is one thing if you want to break up the fight because someone is hurt but it is another if you break it up when both players want to go. This is also not the first time this has happened to McQuaid as the same exact thing happened the other night in Columbus.
It is now clear that the NHL and its referees have declared war on fighting as we knew it was going to happen at some point but not like this. “This is not the NBA, this is hockey” Bruins Play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards said after the linesmen stepped to break up McQuaids fight.
I totally agree with Edwards here hockey is supposed to be a rough sport that does involve fighting it is not the main part of the game but it is an important one and one that should stay. The refs clearly lost control of last night’s game as there were so many ticky-tacky things after the whistle.
If you just let the players fight they go and sit for 5-minutes and they are all good they resume playing there game and helping there team win. When you don’t let them fight the anger just keeps building up until that player hits there snapping point. No player hit their snapping point last night but with these two same teams playing Saturday afternoon things could get rough, and only have last night’s referees to blame.
Below is the video of McQuiad’s almost fight from last night.
The @NHL wants to reduce concussions. I don't have the exact answer how, but your ref holding a guy while he gets beat definitely isn't it pic.twitter.com/38ZbYpKk1w
— Savage Matthews (@SavageAuston34) December 30, 2016
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
