Ever since the inception of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1917, fighting has been a part of the sport.  However, a motion to ban fighting in the NHL has been brought to the general managers.  An integral part of the game, fighting should not be banned from the NHL.

            Hockey is alone among professional sports when it comes to condoning fighting.  To many people outside of hockey, fighting seems savage and unnecessary in a professional hockey game, but what those outsiders do not know is that fighting prevents many more injuries than it causes.

            In most NHL fights, two players, usually whose job it is to fight, will agree to fight just after the referee drops the puck for a face-off.  The players drop their gloves, and then they grapple and punch until the referees decide to break up the fight.  It is very rare for a fighter to be injured in one of these staged fights.  However, if the fight did not happen, worse injuries would be very likely.

            It is said among hockey players that the game polices itself.  This means that a player will not try an illegal move against an opposing player because he knows that the ­opposition will seek revenge on him.  Usually, the revenge is much more violent and illegal than the offending move.  In the NHL, the revenge will usually consist of a challenge to a fight.  If a player declines a fight, the consequences can be dire.

            Todd Bertuzzi, a forward with the Calgary Flames, was playing with the Vancouver Canucks during the 2004-2005 season.  Steve Moore, then a forward with the Colorado Avalanche, checked Vancouver captain Markus Naslund, injuring Naslund.  In a later game, Bertuzzi challenged Moore to a fight but Moore declined.  To exact his revenge, Bertuzzi grabbed Moore by the jersey and punched him in the back of the head.  Bertuzzi, as well as several other players on the ice, landed on Moore.  Moore was removed from the ice on a stretcher, and was later found to have suffered three fractured vertebrae in his neck, a grade three concussion, vertebral ligament damage, stretching of the brachial plexus nerves, and facial cuts.  Moore has not returned to professional hockey, and doctors are doubtful that he ever will.

            Though fighting appears violent, it is an important part of the game of hockey.  Fighting can attract new fans to the game of hockey.  Most professional hockey players admit that fights energize their teams.  Fighting also prevents more injuries than it causes.  Players, fans, coaches and television analysts agree that it is just as much a part of the game as power-plays and face-offs.  Fighting needs to stay in the NHL, otherwise, many other players may meet the same fate as Moore.