I remember watching fights years ago and it was common for a player to throw down the other player and continue to pummel them when they were on the ice, almost to the point of an mma ground and pound technique
I'm trying to remember when did the code change, where it became unacceptable to get a guy down on the ice and start punching?
Not sure if the NHL added a similar rule at some point, but I know Hockey Canada has the Aggressor Rule, which is used to penalized a player who persists after the linesmen move in to break up a fight, or who refuses to stop beating on someone (separate from the instigator but often confused for some reason). I also think that over the years the officiating has become more of a science...officials are told exactly what to do and when to do it so that a standard can be easily established. Perhaps the role of a linesmen in a fight has tightened up so to speak as player safety has become so important. I've always been tought as a linesmen during a fight to never intervene until my partner is there, but to get in there as soon as a combatent is in a vulnerable position. To answer your question, my best guess is that linesmen didn't have a standard back in the day as to when they should break it up, and many of them probably wanted to see the scrap last as long as possible.
I remember watching fights years ago and it was common for a player to throw down the other player and continue to pummel them when they were on the ice, almost to the point of an mma ground and pound technique
I'm trying to remember when did the code change, where it became unacceptable to get a guy down on the ice and start punching?
Good question. If I had to guess, it would be right around the time that staged fights between dedicated enforcers became the norm ("Hey other team's enforcer, wanna go? OK, man. Good luck" as opposed to "you said or did something Kordic didn't like; prepare to eat knuckle, whoever you are," which was the old way).
If it's just two guys doing their job for fan entertainment, there's really no need to be beating the other guy on the ground because there's really no animus in the situation. The fights where one guy beat the other after he was down usually happened it situations where one party or his teammate was wronged in some way.
Good question. If I had to guess, it would be right around the time that staged fights between dedicated enforcers became the norm ("Hey other team's enforcer, wanna go? OK, man. Good luck" as opposed to "you said or did something Kordic didn't like; prepare to eat knuckle, whoever you are," which was the old way).
If it's just two guys doing their job for fan entertainment, there's really no need to be beating the other guy on the ground because there's really no animus in the situation. The fights where one guy beat the other after he was down usually happened it situations where one party or his teammate was wronged in some way.
Just my guess.
Makes sense, players are usually more aggressive when they're fighting over something that happened in the game.
I remember watching fights years ago and it was common for a player to throw down the other player and continue to pummel them when they were on the ice, almost to the point of an mma ground and pound technique
I'm trying to remember when did the code change, where it became unacceptable to get a guy down on the ice and start punching?
When the only thing some players did was fight, and therefore did not want to become injured from fighting.
The Code is a lot like the NHL Rule Book. It's something that can always be thrown in the garbage can whenever it suits you, or used as justification for trashing someone else.
*edit* Thinking further, what I was trying to say was: If your guy gets nailed in a cheap way, you can trash them by saying it was against The Code and they're scum by not playing by it. If your guy nails someone in a cheap way, you then point out all the times the other guy ignored The Code and therefore deserved it. Didn't think a Bruins fan would be unfamiliar with the process.
Last edited by ProstheticConscience: 03-24-2012 at 12:49 AM.
Punching someone in the back of the head while he's lying down is awesome...
was he punching him in the back of the head? brown started the fight.. lucic ended it. If it happened the other way i would've said "looch should've stayed on his skates".
I remember watching fights years ago and it was common for a player to throw down the other player and continue to pummel them when they were on the ice, almost to the point of an mma ground and pound technique
I'm trying to remember when did the code change, where it became unacceptable to get a guy down on the ice and start punching?
There has never been a "code", its just something a senile old man has invented on TV. There has been unwritten rules though, like dont kick or knee.
