Hockey fight night, US vs. Canada
Let’s get this out of the way first. I know practically nothing about ice hockey. I’ve never seen a whole game live or on TV. I’m sure you hockey fans will educate me in the comments.
In case you haven’t heard, something unusual happened in Saturday’s US versus Canada game of the NHL’s 4 Nations Rivalry, which is taking place now during what would previously have been the All-Star break in the season.
Three fights broke out in the first nine seconds of the game.
Hockey fans apparently think this is great. Here’s a sampling of the top comments on this YouTube clip:
I have questions
Honestly, help me to understand (no insults, please, just enlighten me).
- There’s always fighting in sports, but it typically happens when tempers boil over based on something that happens in a game, like a baseball pitcher throwing at a batter. How can there be a fight like this when the game is only seconds old?
- Why do so many fans find this more entertaining than actual hockey with sticks and pucks and passes and shots on goal?
- Hockey players can’t fight unless they cooperate — you can’t throw an effective punch on skates unless both players are grabbing onto each other. Is there some deeper meaning in that element of hockey fights?
- Does this obviously overheated rivalry have anything to do with the anger many Canadians are feeling over Trump’s proposed tariffs?
- Should we have Trump and Trudeau, or Putin and Zelenskyy, or Netanyahu and Hamas, settle their differences this way? That could save a lot of bloodshed.
The Canadian fans booed the US national anthem. Regardless of international event and the political situation, you don’t boo another country’s national anthem. Not in the Olympics. Not in an exhibition hockey tournament. As a lifelong hockey fan, I don’t like the fighting – and most of it is gone. However, this was the most intense period of hockey I’ve seen since the old Blackhawks vs North Stars rivalries in the 1980s. Loved it.
There’s always been fighting in hockey. Typically teams have an enforcer. One of his jobs is to protect the team’s star. So, in the Gretzky days, if you took a run at Wayne, you’d soon get a beating from the enforcer.
Three fights in the first nine seconds? That was just stupid. Yes, it did have something to do with the political situation. I don’t think most Americans understand how much the orange guy offended the country. We’re not a flag-waving country, but right now stores are sold out of Canadian flags.
People are reading labels to avoid buying American. Canadians have cancelled their southern winter vacations. Flights from Canada to the sunshine states are down 25%. Flights to Mexico are up.
Boxing? Find a video of Trudeau boxing. He’s a serious boxer. He’d take Trump and Putin in a nano-second. Those two paunchy guys wouldn’t stand a chance. Maybe that’s the way to do it.
Booing the anthem? Yeah, a little classless, but that will keep happening, as long as your guy spouts stuff like “governor Trudeau of the 51st state”.
Ha! Canadians love hockey fights, it’s true. I think it’s because they love to see emotions take over. Also, hockey fights are a tradition that happens in almost every game so everyone is typically kind of waiting for the magic moment to occur. Like hearing your favorite character say their catch phrase.
Also: blood bounces on ice. (!!!)
And yes, this is about Trump, not strictly the tariffs but more his gargantuan arrogance in musing about annexing Canada. EFF YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON, BUDDY. Canadians may have a nice-guy image and be a bit too enamored of our cousin to the south, but we are patriotic as hell and very proud to be not-American.
Oh, I gotta comment. Canadian here.
1. Fights are sometimes setup in conversations on the ice in the moment or because of some things that happened in past games. They may have even been chirping at each other in the warmup stage.
2. It’s sometimes more entertaining to see fights because it’s the purest form of the game. It’s a holdover to the old days. It’s something we can’t get away with off the ice, so we live through them getting it out on the ice. Most often this is good natured stuff.
3. Well, true they need to cooperate, but they’re also jockeying for position, trying to get the jersey very the guy’s head. if you look close, sometimes the guy with a handle on the other guy’s jersey is throwing a punch with that hand.
4. Is it related to tariffs and politics? Hmm. I would say it’s a factor 🙂
5. If you watch a fight closely, these guys are actually friends. They will even pat each other on the back or shake hands when it’s over. In a war where people murder each other, this doesn’t seem to fit the spirit of the kind of dispute they’re having. Gosh, wouldn’t it be nice to resolve things this way.
Watching a hockey game for the fights is akin to watching an auto race hoping to see a fatal accident. It has nothing to do with the sport.
As an Aussie, this reminds me of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
There was a water-polo match between Hungary and Russia – Russian tanks had recently rolled into Hungary to put down an anti-Communist uprising – which degenerated into a brawl in the pool, with broken noses and broken jaws (and other less serious injuries on both sides).
And if you think it’s hard to throw a punch on the ice… 😉