With the latest superstar on ice resting now with a banged up hand the debate over fighting in hockey will gather some more steam.

Connor McDavid is the consensus number one pick in the next NHL draft given his size and skill.

He’ll have some time on his hands (hand) to read all the press coverage after busting a few bones in one of those magic mitts during a fight in the OHL.

The question many experts were asking is why in the name of Lord Stanley was he fighting?

Aren’t there guys on the team who are supposed to step in when the golden goose is close to getting manhandled?

Of course there are but this time the young man decided to take matters into his own hands and dropped the mitts to use them for something other than goal scoring. Old time hockey from the latest generation.

Back in the day the goal scorers handled these things on their own. The tough guys battled the tough guys. Lines were not crossed and if they were, watch out!

So this little tiff in the OHL begs the question-poor decision or good one?

One side says he should have skated away from this and allow the other players to engage in the shenanigans.

The other side says he was showing he is not just another pretty face and will fight his own battles.

So the anti-fight lobby gains a point in saying a total ban would have meant this situation doesn’t happen.

Those who back the ‘fighting is part of the game’ slant will argue if the tough guys were allowed to be tough guys this wouldn’t have happened either.

Which side do you fall on?

We see superstars in the NHL drop the gloves on occasion, making owners cringe in their private box but those same players are killing penalties and blocking shots so injury risk is there as well.

Hockey is a tough game and things will happen at any time to any player.

We can’t go the bubble wrap route with anyone making over X number of dollars but at the same time there can’t be anarchy on ice.

Yep, no clear answer here but it should be another log on the fighting fire which may make the winter a bit warmer at the very least.

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