Knuckle Puck: Why NHL Should Embrace the Octagon

Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me via electronic mail.

NHL Superman Punch

Friday morning I was sitting around perusing the blogosphere and happened upon the video of Vancouver's Kevin Bieska "superman punching" Philadelphia's Mike Richards on Thursday night. It was quite the left hand and clearly stunned Richards for a few seconds. A few blogs picked up on it, including Puck Daddy, who went so far as to get an MMA -- that's mixed martial arts -- reporter to weigh in on the subject, since that's where Superman punches are normally seen. I couldn't remember ever seeing this technique used in the NHL before.

That's when it hit me.

I had an idea that could satisfy a lot of hockey fans on both sides of the pro and anti-fighting aisles: ban in-game fighting in hockey and instead have sanctioned MMA fights between players during intermission. If two players have a tiff, send them to the locker room to prepare for their fight. At intermission an octagon -- what they call the fighting ring in MMA terms -- would be lowered from the roof of the arena and be used to stage the fight legally and in a much safer manner at center ice.

Think about it. The fighting would be regulated, ending all of the "cowboy justice" that we see nowadays, as well as any concerns that a player would swing a stick at another or take a cheap shot. We would also completely eliminate the possibility that a player could fall during a fight and hit his head on the ice. Sure, the floor of the octagon isn't super soft, but it's certainly better than ice. And a nice side effect could be drawing new fans (read: MMA fans) to hockey games that may have never thought about it before.

"Oh, but aren't we just turning NHL games into a carnival show?" the critics will say. "First the shootout and now this?!"

Well, OK, I can see that point. But isn't the risk of turning into a carnival worth ending the fighting debate once and for all, satisfying both sides and ensuring player safety? Come on, we've got the shootout, which is primarily based on luck. It can't really get any more like a carnival game than that.

YouTube of the Week
Two words: Superman punch. Could it be anything else?

Knuckle Pucker of the Year Nominee
Each week, we'll nominate someone who deserves to be recognized for their outstanding service and commitment to giving me something to write about. By the end of the year I'll come up with some way to declare a winner. Today's nominee is...

... the farewell video to the Minnesota Wild's "Movember" mustaches. Seriously, if this doesn't bring a tear to your eye, nothing will.