The Fight Of My Life
As a teenager I used to play in a pick-up ball hockey league run by a local church. I've never been one to light the red light on fire with a salvo of goals, instead I have carved my niche as a tough, hard nosed stay-at-home-defender.
I still remember one game from the summer when I was seventeen. It was a meaningless game, but there was a new guy who came out. He was strong, fast and skilled, a formidable forward. These were the type of players I loved to guard. I would frequently relish the fact that I could almost always stop a guy who had more hockey experience, speed and at least a few inches on me.
This new guy who showed up had a bit of attitude, making my job of defending him all the more fun. He was at least my age and a lot bigger, but I was up to the challenge.
The game became more intense when I heard him making fun of a younger player. The victim, a boy named Colby, was only thirteen years old, of average talent for his age and seemed fairly new to Canada. There was no reason to jeer him and try to throw him off his game. As someone who was teased considerably when I was younger, this irked me quite a bit.
After a little bit of rough play, I challenged my new nemesis to drop the gloves. He refused and that was the end of the story…until at least the next game we met. We didn't like each other and game after game I would try to entice him into settling hockey disputes the old fashioned way and each time he would decline.
That is until one day two years later.
It was the finals and with 5 minutes to go our team had a comfortable 4-1 lead (well, comfortable if you are not a Leafs fan: see @1:40 for the epic collapse:
My enemy was parked in front of the net I was doing my best to move him. He took exception to this, and after a little bit of shoving the fight I had been anticipating for almost two years was ready to break out. I won'the fight and at the time I was proud as I thought I delivered a bruise to his oversized ego.
The question of whether there should be fighting in hockey is one that is asked quite often these days. I personally think it is still necessary, but the majority of people seem to disagree. Yet even with this stance, I still question my actions from ten years ago:
Did I take my grudge against a bully a little too far?
Was I in turn bullying him by persistently asking for a fight?
Was it fair to cause the sponsors and other players grief by starting what was a pretty big quarrel in a volunteer run church league?
Feel free to weigh in with your comments below. I promise to take every suggestion with an open mind. If you want to give your opinion about fighting in hockey…go for it!
The story I just described portrays an incident that happens almost every day across this country. Whether it is a pick-up game with friends, a recreational league, or the professional ranks; fights break out in what is by nature a physical sport. I do not mean to downplay the significance of fighting…real injuries whether mental or physical do occur because we as players just can't seem to get along.
In Power Play, Cody is a gritty forward who thinks his skills and toughness can make him an NHLer one day. Coach Connors comes along and Cody thinks his dreams are about to come true. His dreams quickly turn into nightmares when he finds himself the victim of abuse at the hands of someone who is supposed to be his new mentor. In this book the dark side of the game that our country embraces is put to the forefront, and anger and aggression are key themes that jump right out of the pages of this great read!
11 thoughts on “The Fight Of My Life”
I don’t understand hockey. Why on earth do people like beating one another up and getting beat up in the process?
Love Eric Walters. I read some of his novels in middle school and was hooked. This novel sounds interesting. I’ll read it sometime.
This is a great question with a complicated answer:
1. In the NHL teams will actually employ skaters whose purpose is little more than to be around for fighting. The perception is that if a team has a few tough guys they will not get overmatched physically and/or shoved around in what is by nature a physical game.
2. In all other leagues, in my opinion there are two reasons people fight:
A. In my experience a number of teams have one player who is close to being a psychopath. They just love getting into conflicts, no matter what the stakes, or they will be provoked by the slightest incident that the vast majority of players would not take offence to. In short, some of these people likely suffer from some kind of mental illness.
B. In any sport with physical contact there are always players who try to walk the line when it comes to the rules. These incidents which are referred to as “cheap shots” (i.e. when one player hooks another player when referee has his head turned). The recipient of a cheap shot will usually take offense to this and a fight may break out after a period of escalation.
I am not saying I support any of the above, just trying to provide an explanation.
Hockey is so agressive, even when they are not fighting. I mean, don’t they get tired of body-slaming one another and almost skating into walls all the time?
I love playing hockey, although its aggressive it’s still fun to play and watch.
The fights make it more fun to watch. Some people tune in just to catch one. But why? I never understood that. If you want to prove who is stronger or better, do it by showing that you have skills (while playing hockey). Or just after the game, we don’t need injuries.
I think hockey is a lot like rugby or football and anyone who plays does expect some degree of bodychecking, etc. Those who are not interested will quit or not play in the first place, and of course there are sevearl people who take this stance.
While physicality is entrenched in hockey, the protective equipment does do a lot of mitigate injuries…although certainly the rough nature of the sport does see people get hurt on occasion.
If you look above, I mention that there are NHLers who are in essence paid to go out there and fight. I can’t understand this part of the game myself and think it is ridiculous. I don’t see the advantage of two guys who at the start of the fight have an equal chance of winning, duking it out in the first period. I can understand how players take exception to something that has been done to them and seek to retaliate, but fighting for no reason other than to fight seems bizarre to me!
Read this book a couple weeks ago- it was pretty amazing. The beginning was slow but once it picked up, it was great in a gut wrenching sort of way.
Nice story : ) I don’t play hockey but I play mid field in soccor and when I’m defending I love the feeling of slamming into another player carrying the ball down- completely exhilarating C:
Hi James,
I really liked the line about lighting the red light on fire with a salvo of goals!
That was great!
waiting two years for a hockey fight at your local church ball hockey league. now that’s a doozy!
kudos if you’re reading this in 2018