The last thing Garrett Klotz remembers from the last game he played for the Philadelphia Phantoms is Kevin Westgarth's meaty fist being driven into his face.
Advertisement

He doesn't remember his head bouncing off the ice or his body convulsing as medical personnel hurriedly placed him onto a stretcher.

At 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, Klotz understands his role and the inherent dangers of performing it every game.

"I know the risk I'm taking when I go out there," said Klotz, who is expected to return to the Phantoms lineup next week. "And I'm willing to take that risk."

Klotz' seizure following his Jan. 23 fight occurred two weeks after the death of 21-year-old Don Sanderson, who slipped into a coma after hitting the back of his head on the ice in a Canadian senior league fight.

The two incidents have sparked a continental debate over fighting's place in hockey.

A recent Canadian Press poll showed 54 percent of Canadians believe fighting should be banned from the NHL, but those who run the league are convinced it belongs.

"I don't think there's any appetite to abolish fighting from the game," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who has seen the number of fights rise from 466 in the post-lockout season of 2004-05 to a projected 785 this season.

Flyers enforcer Riley Cote, who is tied for the NHL lead in fighting majors with 16, said fighting is as much a part of the game as sticks, pucks and body checks.

"You can't take out fighting because a couple guys got hurt," Cote said. "I know a guy died, but that's just a freak thing.

"If [retired goaltender] Clint Malarchuk died when he got cut by a skate blade [in 1989], what are you going to do, take off the blades? If someone falls in the Grand Canyon, are you going to fill it up with concrete? I don't think there is a way around it. It is what it is."

Old-school fans tend to agree.

Adrea Miller, 46, of Sicklerville, N.J., was weaned on the Broad Street Bullies and was a Flyers season ticket holder from 1982 through 1989. She occasionally attends Flyers' practices in Voorhees with her daughter, Emalee, 18. Both love to see the gloves dropped.

"I loved it when they brawled," Adrea Miller said. "I think it's exciting. In my opinion, they break them up too quick."

Andy Starfield, 26, of Philadelphia, said he doesn't need to see a fight to enjoy a hockey game but the increase in "staged" fights between teams' enforcers bothers him.

"I love the fights when there's a reason for it," he said, "but sometimes they drop the gloves randomly in the first period. It's mano-a-mano and a couple punches later it's over."

Next month, NHL senior executive president of hockey operations Colin Campbell will present league general managers with videotapes of several fights. Among the topics of discussion will be the overall effectiveness of the instigator rule; the increase in staged fights; the need to wear helmets during fights; and the tactic of throwing opponents to the ice.

"I think it's something we need to talk about for sure," said Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren, who accrued 1,684 penalty minutes in his NHL career. "Any time players are seriously injured we need to address it."
The instigator rule

In 1992, the NHL introduced the instigator penalty for starting a fight and it has been a bone of contention by players, coaches and management ever since. The penalty carries a two-minute minor, plus a game misconduct and is intended to curb unnecessary brawls. However, many believe the rule has taken accountability out of the game.

"If I run someone over, I expect someone to come after me," said the Flyers' Cote, who is tied for the lead league with 16 fights. "Other guys are protected by the [instigator] rule -- guys ... who run around with smiles on their faces saying, 'What are you gonna do, jump me?'

"In my opinion, the agitator role has increased while the enforcer role has decreased. Some of these guys run around like they're 6-foot-10 and they really have no [guts] at all. They're just hiding behind the rule."

Cote believes that if the instigator rule was removed, agitators would think twice before taking cheap shots at star players. Holmgren agrees.

"If we didn't have fighting, we'd have more players -- and you know who they are -- taking runs at the Danny Brieres and Sidney Crosbys of the world," Holmgren said. "And if there was no instigator rule, these guys wouldn't be as willing to target the stars of other teams."
Staged fighting

As a result of the instigator rule, fighters now ask each other if they are willing to "go" before dropping the gloves, with many bouts occurring immediately after a faceoff. In the case of Klotz vs. Westgarth, the two fought two seconds after the opening faceoff.

"What's happened," Phantoms coach John Paddock said, "is the powers that be have forced these kinds of players to stage fights. I'm not in favor of fighting for the sake of fighting. To me that's ridiculous. But it should be more spontaneous than it is right now."

Cote admits that most of his fights this season have been staged.

"In the old days, fights started because players were dirtier -- spearing each other, slashing, elbowing," he said. "Today the instigator rule kind of puts a roadblock on the way guys can do their jobs. If I get an instigator penalty, that's 17 minutes. I don't want to put my team down. What did I just prove?"
The helmet question

Sanderson's death prompted the Ontario Hockey League to issue a one-game suspension to players who remove their helmets during a fight. The NHL is expected to consider a similar rule this summer.

Many of today's younger players, including Flyers captain Mike Richards, remove their helmets prior to fighting to save their hands from being damaged on opponents' helmets and visors.

Holmgren, who wore a belt-style chin strap to keep his helmet on during fights, said he respects the players' rights to remove their lids.

"If two tough kids are willing to be combatants and they take their helmets off, I don't see a problem with that," Holmgren said.

Former Flyer Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, who still owns the single-season record for penalty minutes with 472 in 1974-75, has another solution.

"My suggestion is to keep the helmets on and fight with gloves on," he said, referring to padded mixed martial arts gloves. "Instead of taking the helmets off, skate over to the bench and put the gloves on."

Sound strange? It shouldn't. Schultz tried a similar tactic during his playing days. After injuring his wrist in a fight, he wrapped his hands in tape the way a boxer does under his gloves. Soon other NHL fighters wore similar protection.

"There were times after games that I'd put my hands in buckets filled with ice and I wasn't even hitting helmets. I was hitting someone with hair," Schultz recalled.

The NHL responded with what was called the "Schultz Rule" by banning hand wraps. Cote said he doubts the NHL would reverse the rule and allow fighters to use anything but their bare knuckles.

"You'd open up a whole new can of worms by doing that," he said of the gloves. "I mean, guys used to spray Tough Skin on their hands. It was clear and sticky and when you landed a punch it cut guys. It was a cheap way to hurt somebody. I don't think the NHL will ever let us wear anything, but I understand where [Schultz] is coming from because my hands are shredded half the time."
Takedowns

Sanderson's head injury occurred when he was thrown to the ice by his opponent at the conclusion of their fight. Days later, Phoenix Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky suggested giving fighters an extra two minutes for tripping or pulling an opponent down to the ice.

"That way it will make two guys stand up and actually fight," he said.

Others, like Flyers coach John Stevens, wonder how a referee could determine whether a fighter intentionally takes down his combatant with the intent to injure.
By CHUCK GORMLEY • Special to The News Journal • February 9, 2009

"I think it would be impossible to call," he said.

Schultz said one of the scariest incidents in his career occurred when Bruins grappler Terry O'Reilly threw him to the ice.

"I almost got killed," said Schultz, who never wore a helmet. "I really couldn't function for a week."

Schultz, who stood 6-foot-1, 185 pounds during his playing career, said he trusts the NHL will protect its players by implementing the proper rules regarding fighting, but doesn't believe anything needs to be done.

"The bottom line for me is if I was a playing today I wouldn't fight," he said, "not against a guy 6-foot-5, 250 pounds."