More Hockey Violence: High School Game

Keller High School defeated Arlington Martin, 9-3, to win the Texas State Championship.

However, at the end of the game, a brawl broke out. This is high school hockey.

At the 1:01 mark, a Keller player delivered a blindside hit on an opponent resulting in a grade 3 concussion.

The Ellis County Observer, a local paper reacted as follows:

These mongrels were raised to do things like this. I cannot fathom seeing how parents would allow their gunpowder-fed boys engaging in this level of sick “sport.” The professionals in the NHL are a bit dumb, too, because…they fight simply for ratings. It’s stupid. But on the Texas high school hockey level, this is beyond belief. If I walked down from the stands and clocked the hockey coach, that would be a felony. This happens? And it’s “sport.”

This is yet another instance of hockey violence that brings into question the credibility of the sport.

As for the blindside hit, in my opinion it is not unreasonable to consider whether it is a crime (i.e., assault). That hit cannot be said to be incidental contact that players believe is part of the game, and it does seem that the player was headhunting.

For a review of when a hit is a crime in hockey, click here.

To watch the incident, click here.

I've said it before and I will say it again: we have evolved past this stuff and it's time for hockey, starting with its leader, the NHL, to stamp out fighting and violence on the ice. Agreed - no easy feat as it requires a cultural change. However, we're better than this and hockey is better than this.