With the discussions dealling with respect, half shields, full shields,
fighting, facial injuries etc., I thought I'd quote my favorite two
paragraphs of sports writing.  They are from a 1950 Sport Magazine article
by Ed Fitzgerald.
 
"In 19 years of professional hockey, Eddie Shore had exactly 978 stiches
taken in more than 80 wounds ripped into his battered flesh. He suffered a
fractured back, a fractured hip and a broken collarbone. His nose was broken
14 times and his jaw shattered five times. His left ear was almost torn off,
so it hung on only by a thread.  Both eyeballs were split open.  Almost
every natural tooth he owned was knocked out of his head.
 
He was the greatest hockey player who ever lived."
 
Now this was in a time before helmets and shields half or full so there had
to be GREAT RESPECT and sticks were never raised high.  Now if you believe
that drop me an email and I'll be happy to sell you a bridge or two.
 
The article talks of him being a "ruthless fighter" who swung "his hockey
stick like a medieval lance" and "To him, assualt and battery was all in a
days work.  His shockingly severe body checks enraged their victims so
consistently, inflaming them to seek revenge with their fists and their
wildly flailing sticks, that Shore soon grew to protecting himself with a
pair of rock-hard fists and a deadly stick."
 
What does this prove...nothing absolutely nothing.   But it is a possible
extreme look at the game if we forget about safety and let the fighters
decide who are the best student athletes.  However, even with the $$$$
deciding so much about college hockey like other college sports, it is
unlikely the ADs and college presidents would permit anything that could
ever be construed as a step backwards safety wise. It is equally unlikely
that fighting will ever be permitted in the college game.  It goes against
everything colleges are trying to teach.
 
Bob Svec
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.