With so many players being sidelined with concussions these days, it almost seems like it’s a sudden, recent phenomenon. But you bring up a good point about older players like Stevens. Back in the day, I think they had a “just rub some dirt on it and go out and play” mentality. Goodness knows how many concussions these guys suffered.

Phil Bourque was recently interviewed by Bob Grove on the subject and estimated that he had seven concussions during his playing career!

I’m with you, I enjoy a good fight. They definitely can add momentum and really bring out the emotion and passion that is such a big part of the sport. I don’t think we’ll ever see a ban on fighting.

The older players whose brains have been studied along with Boogaard’s were all fighters, so the head injuries that scientists have to go by are mostly the result of fists and such. Most of the young players we are seeing now on the IRs are suffering concussions due to the simple contact nature of the sport. They may not suffer the psychological effects of guys like Boogaard, Rypien, and Belak, but the physiological harm is assured.

Several retired players not too far removed from the game have recently promised their brains to science to be studied. These are players who don’t even know how many concussions they suffered but would just get back on the ice. It will be a long time though before we know anything from those eventual studies.

As a Pens fan, one player who always sticks out in my mind is Kevin Stevens. Listening to him give interviews the past few years has been almost painful. You can hear the damage done in his voice and you have flashbacks to some of the hits he took. People will chirp in about his later drug use also having an effect. However, after reading the BU summary of the study on Boogaard, maybe the drug habit was a symptom of the trauma he suffered to the brain during all the hits. The drugs then only exacerbate the effects of any neurological deterioration.

It’s funny how just a little bit of new knowledge makes you start wondering and looking back on things with a whole new perspective.

At the risk of sounding like a Neanderthal, I must confess that I’ve always enjoyed a good toe-to-toe scrap. Fights can swing the momentum of a game and often add a heightened level of tension and drama to what already is the world’s most exciting sport.

However, as you’ve so eloquently pointed out, the number of players sustaining concussions and other serious injuries due to hockey fights has become downright alarming—to say nothing of the long-term psychological and physiological effects. Today’s players are bigger, stronger and better-conditioned than ever before. The old adage that “no one gets hurt in a hockey fight” no longer applies.

The good news for hockey purists is that fighting in the NHL has been on the decline for over two decades (.47 fights per game this season vs. an all-time high of 1.3 fights per game in 1987-88 according to dropyourgloves.com). Even brawling teams like the Philadelphia Flyers are turning the other cheek. With more and more players entering the league from the collegiate ranks and Europe—where fisticuffs are banned—fighting appears to be dying a natural, if stubborn death.

Whether the NHL will take the next step and ban fighting altogether is anybody’s guess.