Violent Brawl Breaks out at Kids Hockey Game

A violent brawl broke out at a youth hockey game in China on Wednesday. According to the Daily [...]

By Brian Jones

A violent brawl broke out at a youth hockey game in China on Wednesday. According to the Daily Caller, the fight was between a team from Shenzen and a team from Hong Kong in the National Youth Games. Hong Kong was winning 11-2 in the final minute of regulation and that led to Shenzen taking matters into their own hands.

The good news is there were no injuries reported for the Hong Kong players according to the South China Morning Post. As for Shenzen, the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association said that three players who were involved in the brawl have been banned for one year. Hong Kong went on to win the game and finished their run in the National Youth Games with three wins and two defeats.

Fighting is one of the things that has been encouraged in hockey, at least in the National Hockey League. However, it looks like that trend is on the decline. In a report by Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, fights during NHL games were at an all-time low during the 2018-19 season.

"In 1,271 regular-season games in 2018-19, there were 224 fights in which at least one player received a fighting major," he wrote. "That's down from 280 fights in 2017-18. The number of fights in a full season has dropped every season since 2008-09 when there were 734 fights. In 2001-02, that number was 803. From the 2000-01 season to 2009-10, the NHL averaged 669 fights per season.

"The rate for 2018-19 was 0.18 fights per game, which marks the first time that the average fights per game has dropped below 0.20. From 2000-01 to 2009-10, there were seven seasons in which the NHL had a fights-per-game average of more than 0.50."

Wyshynski also said last year was the first time the NFL had fewer than 200 games without a fighting major. Former NHL player Daniel Carcillo told ESPN less fighting benefits the league.

"I believe this is the new normal," Carcillo said who had 103 career fights and is now a leading voice for player health awareness, "and I think the game is better off without fighting, no doubt."

It's clear we live in a different era as hockey fights are not as big as they once were. So let's hope the incident in China doesn't happen again.

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