“I think everyone knows that fighting is not what hockey is about,” says a league spokesman
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League didn’t get any pushback for its decision to basically ban fighting.
The league’s spokesman, Maxime Blouin, said that general managers and coaches have been fine with the decision.
Blouin said Saturday that some of them used to be very good hockey players. “They know what it’s like to be hurt while playing hockey, but they also know what it’s like to be hurt after hockey.”
“Players who have had 15-20 concussions know what it means for their daily lives. So, both the way people think about the sport and the sport itself are changing, and I think the changes are making it safer.”
Last month, the QMJHL owners voted to add a new rule to its rulebook that says, “In black and white, fighting is not allowed in our league.” This is what led to the decision to ban fighting.
The ban should start in June, before the 2023-2024 season.
Since 2020, when Isabelle Charest, who is in charge of sports in Quebec, asked for it, the QMJHL has been working to stop fighting.
At the time, the league said that fighting would get a player a five-minute major and a 10-minute misconduct.
The general manager of the Moncton Wildcats, Ritchie Thibeau, said that these rules have already stopped most fights, so a ban won’t make much of a difference.
“I don’t think it will change the way we play here in Moncton or the way the league plays,” Thibeau said on Sunday. “Fighting has pretty much been eliminated.”
Blouin said that once the ban is in place, the punishment for fighting is still being worked out, but “we are leaning toward harsher punishments.”
The National Hockey League still lets people fight. Canada’s other two major junior leagues, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League, have said they have no plans to change their rules about fighting.
But Blouin said that other leagues might follow the QMJHL’s example.
“We usually try out new things in our league first, and if they work, other leagues will follow suit,” he said.
Culture shif
Blouin said that the goal of the ban is to protect the players, who can be as young as 16, and give them a safe place to develop their skills.
He said that this is already happening because most games don’t have any fighting.
“I think everyone knows that fighting is not what hockey is about,” he said. “If you want to fight, you go to boxing or mixed martial arts.
“Hockey is about skills, speed, and abilities now, so I don’t think we should make fighting the most important part of the game.”
A spokesperson for the Halifax Mooseheads told CBC News, “We will continue to support the league’s decisions and will change as the game changes.”
The Cape Breton Eagles did not want to say anything.
The Charlottetown Islanders, the Saint John Sea Dogs, and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan did not reply in time for the article to be printed.
MORE TOP STORIES