One of the criticisms of modern hockey teams is that they are too violent. What causes players to be so violent? How are they encouraged to violent? In you essay, discuss either the causes or the effects of violence in contemporary hockey.

Have you ever wanted to play a sport, but you were just a little too unsure if you would like it or not? Well I am going to tell you some stuff about the sport of ice hockey and hopefully make it so you decide to play the game.

First let me tell you a little about the game of ice hockey. Ice hockey is played on a sheet of ice usually 200 feet (61 M) long and 85 feet (26 M) wide. The sheet of ice is surrounded on all sides wit low walls, and plexy glass bolted in on top of the walls. You will also find two netted goals that are located at the end of each rink. Each hockey team consists of twenty players that can dress for a game. From there are three forwards, two defensemen, and a netminder commonly referred to as a goalie. There is also a black rubber thing know as a puck that weighs between 5 Ѕ or 6 ounces that the players try to get passed the goalie and into the net. The players of each team move the puck around with the use of a hockey stick. Hockey sticks are usually made of wood but with today’s new technology are made out of graphite and other light but strong materials.

Hockey is a very fast game, but also a rough one. This is why hockey players today wear a lot of padding. Hockey is a game of precision and accuracy. You have to master many skills to play. Skating, passing and shooting are all things that need to be accomplished before stepping out on the ice.

The ice is divided into three sections: the attacking zone, the defensive zone and the neutral zone. The attacking zone is where the offensive play takes place. The defensive zone is where you defend your own zone. The neutral zone is in the middle of the ice.

The rules of hockey are very similar to those of soccer and lacrosse. You generally cannot purposely hurt someone. And the team that scores the most wins.

Violence in hockey has been around for a very long time. Although, violence in hockey was never thought of a serious issue because it was thought to be part of the game. Without violence in sport, games would be very boring and tedious to watch. Violence brings excitement to the viewers and it also gives energy to players on the same team. Although it has been around for a long time, not much has been done to prevent the violence that is displayed in hockey. Viewers have the majority of the decision in that they enjoy watching two opposing teams “beating the crap out of each other”. Now violence has become part of the game play tactics. In order to win, the team must be aggressive and oppose the other team’s violence. Although, hockey is the very reason why people become violent in the beginning.

It is seen how hockey uses violence as ways in order to achieve a goal or a win. Such strategies are aggression, hostile aggression, instrumental aggression and assertiveness. Aggression is behavior in which the goal is to injure another person, as well as any form of behavior that is directed toward the goal of harming another person who is avoiding hostility.

Players in this sport have roles. For one or two players on each team, that role is to be an enforcer, or goon as many people call them. Their job is to cause trouble for the other team and protect their own teammates from anything nasty. They get paid huge sums of money and get the respect of their peers, along with adoration of the fans for the job they do. No other sport has a type of player such as a goon. It should be no surprise that hockey is so violent.

Violence is no stranger to hockey. As if legal body checking and stick checking did not make the sport rough enough, more and more players unleash their rage through extensive violence on the ice. Violence in hockey is what blacklists American players as second class. This is because of the rise of the violence trend through the eighties and nineties into what is now a bloody and injury filled sport.

Violence in hockey is so big that it is even going on trial when, “Wayne County (Michigan) begins prosecution of Jesse Boulerice. Boulerice, a Philadelphia Flyers prospect, attacked Andrew Long, a Florida Panthers prospect, by giving him a two handed baseball swing to the face with a hockey stick during an Ontario Hockey League playoff game in April of 1998.” (Biggane Brian, Palm Beach Post) And this is only one example of how widespread violence is in hockey.

Violence has long been a controversial part of hocky  has occurred since sports began. fighting has often been seen as a part of the game. There are some who argue that fighting, in fact, keeps the game “cleaner” because the player guilty of questionable play would have to be physically accountable for it on the ice. Advocates of fighting also state that the NHL’s attempt to ban fighting is actually making the game more violent because the players, mainly the so-called “enforcers,” now cannot “police” the game on the ice since teams will be penalized for defending their teammates, thus making the culprit unaccountable for their actions. Proponents also cite the fact that the vast majority of serious injuries and all deaths in the NHL, including those of unfortunate fans, are the result of accidents or incidental contact. Opponents of fighting retort that international and college hockey, which both harshly penalize fighting with suspensions, lack the incidents violence proponents claim to fear, and question what it is about hockey that requires a tolerance for violence.