[kickass32]

Originally Posted by harlemhustla145

Now I am not a fan of Hockey by any means but what I don't understand is why is fighting legal??

This just doesn't make sense to me. I know it's legal until it goes to the ground, but that seems very barbaric and not needed. The game has rules and if a rule is broken (like a guy hitting someone with the stick) and a fight breaks out, that is understandable, but what the hell is the reason for fighting being legal?

The NFL might as well let the football players go at it, hell why not have B Ball throwdowns, I would love to see Shack vs Kobe lol.

Actually fighting, like tripping, or elbowing, etc.. is illegal....fighting earns you a minimum of a 5 minute penalty.

Like others have said, it is a way for the players to police themselves. Steve Yzerman rarely got touched when Bob Probert was a red wing...why, because Probie would pound anyone who did.
When you have guys like Ulf Samuelsson, Fetisov, Marchment, Claude Lemieux, steve Avery etc........around, who will stop at nothing to attempt to injure other players, if you took the fighting out of the game, these, aforementioned pussies would reek havoc.........sticks would be carried up around the heads and there would certainly be more serious injuries than there is.