page_title: Violence in sports
section_title: Ice hockey
hierarchical_section_title: Violence in sports / Athlete violence / Ice hockey
caption_attribution_description: English: Shawn Thornton fighting Wade Brookbank
context_page_description: Violence in sports usually refers to violent and often unnecessarily harmful intentional physical acts committed during, or motivated by, a sports game, often in relation to contact sports such as American football, ice hockey, rugby football, lacrosse, association football, boxing, mixed martial arts, wrestling, and water polo and, when referring to the players themselves, often involving excessively violent or potentially illegal physical contact beyond the normal levels of contact expected while playing the sport. These acts of violence can include intentional attempts to injure a player or coach by another player or coach, but can also include threats of physical harm or actual physical harm sustained by players or coaches by fans or those engaging in the spectating of sports, or threats and acts of violence performed by fans or spectators upon opposing fans or other spectators.
context_section_description: Violence has been a part of ice hockey since at least the early 1900s. According to the book Hockey: A People's History, in 1904 alone, four players were killed during hockey games from the frequent brawls and violent stickwork. Fighting in ice hockey is an established tradition of the sport in North America, with a long history involving many levels of amateur and professional play and including some notable individual fights. While officials tolerate fighting during hockey games, they impose a variety of penalties on players who engage in fights. Unique to North American professional team sports, the National Hockey League (NHL) and most minor professional leagues in North America do not eject players outright for fighting but major European and collegiate hockey leagues do.
  The debate over allowing fighting in ice hockey games is ongoing. Despite its potentially negative consequences, such as heavier enforcers (or "heavyweights") knocking each other out, some administrators are not considering eliminating fighting from the game, as some players consider it essential. Additionally, the majority of fans oppose eliminating fights from professional hockey games.
  In an NHL preseason game between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues on September 21, 1969, Bruins defenseman Ted Green and Blues left wing Wayne Maki, attacking Green, engaged in a bloody stick-swinging fight that resulted in Green sustaining a skull fracture and brain damage, forcing him to miss the entirety of the 1969–70 NHL season, with Maki emerging uninjured. As a result of the fight, Green played for the remaining nine years of his professional career with a pioneering variety of hockey helmet in both the NHL and WHA.
  April 20, 1984 – A bench-clearing brawl broke out at the end of the second period of a second-round playoffs matchup between the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens, after many smaller-scale battles had occurred throughout the game. A second bench-clearing brawl erupted before the third period began, provoked by the announcement of penalties; a total of 252 penalty minutes were incurred and 10 players were ejected. This game prompted referee Bruce Hood to retire from the NHL once the playoffs ended, and is commonly referred to as the Good Friday Massacre.
  On January 4, 1987, the final game of the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, involving Canada and the Soviet Union, saw intense physical (and often dirty) play by both sides, culminating in a bench-clearing brawl that lasted over 20 minutes. Event organizers, in a futile attempt to stop the fighting, turned the arena lights off. Eventually, the game was declared null and void, and both teams were ejected from the competition, costing the Canadians a medal. Virtually all of the players on the Canadian team got suspended for 18 months, while the Soviet Union players were permanently banned from international competition, and the coaching staffs of both teams were fired. The match referee, widely blamed for losing control of the game, never worked another international match. A book by Gare Joyce was written regarding the event.
  February 9, 2001 – A game between the Nottingham Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers in the British Superleague saw "one of the worst scenes of violence seen at a British ice hockey rink".  When Sheffield enforcer Dennis Vial crosschecked Nottingham forward Greg Hadden, Panthers enforcer Barry Nieckar subsequently fought with Vial which eventually escalated into a 36-man bench-clearing brawl. Referee Moray Hanson sent both teams to their locker rooms and delayed the game for 45 minutes while tempers cooled and the officials sorted out the penalties. Eight players and both coaches were ejected, and a British record total of 404 penalty minutes were incurred during the second period. The league handed out 30 games in suspensions to four players and Steelers coach Mike Blaisdell and a total of £8,400 in fines.
  March 5, 2004 – A Philadelphia Flyers – Ottawa Senators game resulted in five consecutive brawls in the closing minutes of the game, including fights b
caption: A fight between Shawn Thornton and Wade Brookbank. Fighting in ice hockey is an established tradition with a long history.
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