HOCKEY PROMPT

I am entirely against fighting in hockey and never enjoyed it nor seen it as a good thing. As a spectator, I do not find a fight entertaining to watch, as a player I find the concept of willingly taking a penalty dumb especially when it essentially guarantees future penalties as more and more players on the teams let their emotions get the better of them, and functionally it does not do what it sets out to do. The vigilante justice angle that most people spout just doesn't happen and it makes the game even more heated so it actually encourages a similar hit (dirty or not) to occur. If a referee didn't call anything, grow up and live with the consequences like a normal human being, don't throw a temper tantrum to "send a message".

For the record, I am a goalie, and I get upset when my team is overprotective of me as I feel they're more likely to incur a penalty than accomplish any sort of goal. In my entire career thus far, I have yet to see one instance where I needed a teammate to do something about an opposing player. Also to further personalize this, I used to sit down on the ice in my crease against a post to protest whenever my team fought as I had a particularly bad team one year with regards to fights (U18, line brawls every other game, you know the drill).