What analytics can tell us about the role of fighting in hockey
What’s clear from the research is that if any league were to try to take fighting out of the game and make no other changes,
it would mean that we should expect the game to be rougher, and perhaps
more dangerous, as Smith suggests. However, it should be possible to
offset this change by having referees call games more tightly, at least
with regards to these “egregious” penalties. If referees can resist the
urge to “put their whistles away and let the players decide the game”,
especially when the play starts getting “chippy”, then players won’t
have to resort to fighting.
While this will undoubtedly have the effect of more penalties being
called, which some might not like, it would also reduce the need for
players to police the game themselves. Of course, the extent to which
the referees are able to do this depends in large part on whether
players can hide their bad behavior from the sightlines of the refs.
(SI.com)
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