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CENTER ICE — Hockey is a crazy sport. Everything about it is just insane to me. I mean, how did someone even think this game up?
Hockey Creator #1: That's a lot of ice. We should play a game on it.
Hockey Creator #2: I've got some sticks.
Hockey Creator #3: I've got some garbage cans.
Hockey Creator #1: Cool, but how are we going to get around on that ice?
Hockey Creator #3: I can grab some kitchen knives and strap them to our shoes.
Hockey Creator #1: Brilliant.
Hockey Creator #2: Can we fight too?
Hockey Creator #1: I don't see why not.
This game is bananas! When I try to watch it, it's so stinking fast that I can't even keep up or see the puck for the life of me. The people who play this game are brutes who like the cold, hate the dentist, and love pinning someone up against the wall.
Hockey's rules on fighting are interesting. Apparently, there is something known as "The Code" in hockey, and the NHL follows it. It more or less says that if a fight breaks out, coaches, players and officials will let it ride and are basically there to keep it from getting too out of hand. Fights are both spontaneous and premeditated, and they almost never result in an ejection. Though. sometimes a fight may result in a multi-game suspension.
Hockey is crazy.
The New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals recently lined up at center ice to get their match going. The puck was dropped and so were the gloves. Instead of a face-off, multiple players from each team immediately start throwing haymakers.
Line brawl to start tonight's game between the Rangers and Capitals at MSG pic.twitter.com/52pvvVZHwx
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) May 5, 2021
Imagine this happening at an NBA game: The ref throws the ball up and both teams let it fall untouched to the ground as the players start uppercutting one another.
The game would be stopped, and players would be ejected, fined millions of dollars and miss multiple games. Not to mention the benches clearing, the coaches scrambling, and the officials and security trying to stop the brawl.
In this situation, the officials and other players become spectators, the coaches are drawing up plays for when the fight ends and security is probably busting a guy for stealing someone's nachos. Also, the game went on, a couple of players received a short suspension, and that's about it.
I don't get hockey. I appreciate it, I think it's entertaining, and I have respect for those who can play — but I do not get it.
I'll just go back to watching my boring old baseball that has bench-clearing brawls that last like seven seconds with a lot of missed punches.
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