09:15 PM
12/21/24
12/21/24
March 29, 2016
Emails from Bettman and other top NHL officials reveal knowledge of harm from fighting and links to drug abuse: "“This is not the same role as it was in the 80’s and 90’s,” Shanahan wrote. “Fighters used to aspire to become regular players. Train and practice to move from 4th line to 3rd. Now they train and practice becoming more fearsome fighters. They used to take alcohol and cocaine to cope. (Kordic) Now they take pills. Pills to sleep. Pills to wake up. Pills to ease the pain. Pills to amp up. Getting them online.”"
Hockey fights were a blast when I was beginning to be an NHL fan in the 1990s. It kept me from watching games with my young sons, but I personally loved them.
It was foolish of me to think that regular violence is a cartoon free of consequences because it happens on skates in front of thousands of fans.
Some of the tales of the enforcers' lives are harrowing.