Ban Grabbing Jerseys, Stop Injuries
Posted 9:57 AM ET | Comments 0
We are losing a lot of good players to injuries from fights. I think there is a simple solution to stop most injuries in hockey fights. How about a 5 game suspension for grabbing jerseys during a fight. If you hold a jersey during a game you get a holding penalty (if the ref catches it), so why not a penalty if you do the same during a fight? If you look back at a lot of the major fighting injuries this year, most of them were a result of holding the jersey. Think of how silly Emery would have looked if he couldn't grab Holtby's jersey to hold him close. No fight. Just Holtby skating away and Emery going "come on, put 'em up".. The punches would be less severe as well since you couldn't hold a guy close to pound his face. Maybe add a 2 minute minor penalty for Holding as well so the team has to play shorthanded. They break up boxers when they get in close and wrap their gloves around each other, why not do the same to hockey players. As soon as someone grabs a jersey, the referees break up the fight and give the penalties to the player(s) that grabbed the jersey and the leagues awards the suspensions.. It'll give the players something to think about before grabbing that jersey to pound the crap out of someone, or toss them on their head as they fall to the ice.