If the NHL stopped fighting, would you stop watching?

yes, but it would kinda get boring

I'm a full contact kickboxer and i absolutely love fighting but i also enjoy a good hockey game! I wouldn't stop watching the NHL if they stopped the fighting because they are such amazing athletes to begin with and i'm amazed to see the things they can do on the ice! The goalies are especially fun to watch with their cat like reflexes and how they use them to stop some unbelievable shots. The fights do make hockey more exciting but i would still love the game without the fights! Hockey would never cut out checking because then everybody would be scoring goals. Recently, it seems as though less hockey fights have been occurring due to referee involvement but i don't think they will ever cut it out because they realize hockey players have a tight bond. Although they hate each other when their teams clash they love each other and respect each other off the ice!

When it comes to fighting the closest comparison I can make is NASCAR. People don't necessarily watch for the crash/fight, but it sure makes the event more exciting!

If fighting were eliminated, or as you suggest, players who fought would be ejected, I would still watch hockey. I think that the fighting is part of the tradition, I do not want hockey to be like baseball, basketball, or football...I don't watch hockey because it is like other sports, I watch it because hockey is unique, hockey is UNLIKE any other sport.

If checking were eliminated I would stop watching, I love hockey, and without checking it isn't hockey. In fact I think the reason women's hockey will never be taken seriously is that checking is not allowed and it makes the game unbearably boring.

Fundamentals are great, but nothing beats a hard hit at center ice.

Since when was it OK in hockey to "run up and punch somebody"? I must have missed the memo.

FYI... (not to be taken personally, but I am tired of the stereotypes) Hockey would not be hockey without checking. It's part of the game, like beanballs in baseball, chop blocks in football, and flailing elbows in basketball. Whether they remove it from the game or not, it'll still happen.

Some leagues do not allow fighting at all, (IE: the NCAA) it doesn't stop people from watching. There is plenty of good hockey going on without fighting, but a good scrap can add emotion to an otherwise flat game.

i'd still watch, but its not like there is a fight every game anyway i went to 10 caps games this year and there was only a fight at one and it wasnt really at fight it was just a punch and then to the box. Its all for sure unless its in defense of a team mate then its serious. You ant have hockey without checking, how the hell do you steal the puck if you don check, poking the puck doesnt work all the time. Hockey isnt like it used to be is my point fighting is down from past decades.

Oh boy! I wasn't even here in the good old days of the mega fights, so the new NHL is what I'm used to, and I'm not missing the fights as they used to happen. I dislike cheap shots, but when two players decide to 'go' it doesn't upset me, I'll grin and cheer with the rest of them.

Checking? The All Star game was non-contact and honestly it was just plain boring. It skewed the play advantage so far in favour of the offense, that it just didn't look much like hockey any more. I can see why it was done that way, as it meant that the star players scored loads of goals. But without checking, it would not be the same game in the league, and as Lae suggested, it would be more like soccer. Yawn.

First, it's not really OK to do that - you get penalized. I would be in favor of stiffer penalties, to reduce not only the unnecessary scrumming but the sometimes unbalanced calling of who-gets-what.

Second, there's not nearly as much fighting in the NHL as there used to be - not even close - and I don't think most people watch it for fighting.

If you cut out checking it's not even hockey anymore.

well my first reaction to this question was wth.

i think it was mostly to your first part "in no other sport is it ok to just run up and start punching somebody"...do you watch hockey? they just all together start punching each other right. anyways so i'll just not respond to that, but i'll ask you what is your stand on all the "fighting" sports.

if they stopped "allowing" fighting i'd still follow hockey.

if they cut out checking, then it'll become like soccer, and although i'll watch to see what they come up with to fill in the checking slot, i'll probably watch more soccer...if i wanted hockey to be like soccer than i wouldn't watch hockey more than soccer although the one played on the field is my favourite sport.

PIM...you want automatic ejections like in baseball or in basketball? do you like hockey?

i would never stop following hockey. i love it too much. crazy.

also do you watch/play football? what do you think about that. and what do you think about car to car contact in nascar...is that also just a little too reckless?

I would not stop watching it. Fights seem random and dont seem to have anything to do with the flow of play on the ice. Doesnt seem that teams get real pumped up from an enforcer going out and fighting. And many times people are fighting b/c they dont have much other skill. Its kinda silly to watch the fights were the whole teams fight and there is no bad blood between many of them, just fight who they happened to be paired up with. And with checks, 9 times out of 10, they guy checked skates right back into the play after the guy who checked him, I could live without them if they needed to get rid of that.

I would not stop watching if they removed fighting. It would be different, and I always thought it best to let them go at it instead of keeping their frustration pent up to explode at a later date, but it never was a major part of hockey for me.

Removing checking, however, will probably make me shy away. would watch a few games first to see how it goes without, then decide...

If they stop fighting altogether I would be mad, but I would still watch the game. If they take out checking, then I can't say with certainty I would still watch hockey, because it would so different from the game I'm used to watching. I think it would get to a point where you couldn't even call it hockey anymore.

no fighting- still watch

no checking- maybe