Fighting is integral part of hockey

(In response to Feb. 6 letter, “Parent appalled at hockey behavior”)

Even though you grew up in Canada and understand and appreciate the game, I don’t think hockey is the sport for you and your 8 year old.

Fighting is a part of hockey. People go to hockey games hoping (and I think expecting) to see a fight or two, a fact proved by the loud encouragement by the audience. I am sure you have heard the old saying, “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.” It is probably similar to car-racing fans that go to a race hoping to see a crash.

They don’t want anybody to get hurt, but when you have a bunch of cars being driven fast there is a good chance there will be a spinout and/or crash or two. The crowd cheers the fights because they have taken the time to drive to, park at, and pay to walk into an arena where

there is going to be a hockey game. Where there is a hockey game there is a good chance there will be a fight. But there are also good stops by goalies, good passes and plays by players, and goals that are cheered by the fans.

I am also a hockey mom. My son started playing when he was 4. He is now 16. When he was young I didn’t look forward to the time when he would be taught to check but knew that was part of this sport. I also knew that in time he could be in fights because that is part of this sport.

My job was and still is to teach him the difference between fighting that is “allowed” during a game and fighting in everyday life. Fighting isn’t allowed in everyday life.

If it happens on the ice I accept it as part of this sport. When we are cheering for a fight at a hockey game we aren’t then turning to our kids and saying now go beat up a kid at school. We are saying this is part of this game on this ice in this building between those players. As parents we are responsible for teaching our children not to bully and also not to accept being bullied or someone else being bullied. If you decide to take your child to a hockey game where there is a good chance they will see a fight, it is your responsibility to teach them the difference between cheering a fight at a hockey game and cheering on or being part of a fight at school or at home.

I agree that they could remove the one part in the “credits” of the movie guessing game where the MC is imitating smoking and saying something about needing a cigarette. I had actually made that comment to my husband after last night’s game. That doesn’t seem appropriate when you have a lot of kids in the stands. They could include more of the videos where they show the T-Bird players being involved with young kids like at the Ronald McDonald house. As for the video in the VIP booth, the rink management would need to lay out the rules for those people. Hopefully your child was more interested in what was happening on the ice.

Children can experience sports for the good of competition, for their health and for their enjoyment over all by signing up and participating in them. By participating they also learn the rules, whether written or not, and then they also have a better understanding of what is happening in a game whether it is a base hit, a goal, icing, or, if they play hockey and reach the levels when they learn to check, a fight.

As parents we teach our children the right and wrong about life. If we decide to take them to a hockey game, we need to teach them the difference between the fighting on the ice and off.

Laurie Dunn

Kent