In a message dated 2/6/99 12:59:16 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
 
<< Sorry - I just can't buy this argument.  If a player is hit with a stick to
the face, he's going to be on the ice bleeding, not dropping his mitts.  >>
 
Hellooooo! McFly!
 
#1- this is the case only half the time. VERY often a player gets his sticks
up and clips a player in the face and it goes undetected...followed by
retaliation of clipped player that either starts a fight or doesn't depending
on the "Chicken Quotient" of the offending player. Often a teammate will "back
up" a teammate that was fouled to protect against further problems...this JUST
happened on my TV screen in the Chicago/Phoenix game between Brad Brown and
Jim Cummins. If this had been Europe...Cummins and Brown would stick-fight
until somebody was wounded bad enough to stop. Referees have no way of
stopping a stick fight either...just picture it...completely helpless.
 
<<Face masks save faces (and eyes and teeth...)>>
 
Mouthpieces save teeth just as well as facemasks...and Chicago Blackhawks
prospect Chris Van Dyk lost an eye while playing hockey...while wearing an eye
shield.
 
 <<But you'll have to provide me with some evidence before I buy
the argument that they cause the stick work to begin with.>>
 
Players in the pro ranks were DEFINITELY more careful not to get the sticks up
before helmets came around...it was a legitimate unwritten rule that you
didn't mess with a mans livelihood.
 
Having said all that...I am going to pull a 180 and announce that I think
college players SHOULD wear facemasks and pro players SHOULD wear
helmets...mostly to protect from pucks and hitting your head on the ice. But
there is no doubt in my mind that players are less careful with their sticks
with the existence of facemasks.
 
I om on the fence about fighting in college...I don't think I want it
there...but it definitely belongs in the pro ranks where the situation can
turn much more desperate in a big hurry.
 
Randy
 
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