Patrick Roy Fallout: Brawl Sparks Senseless Debate

Fighting in Junior Hockey—like all of these other "hot-button issues"— doesn't become hot-button until the wrong kind of publicity happens.

Two weeks ago it was Chris Pronger prodding the coals with his stomp on Ryan Kessler, which was followed by a suspension weaker than watered-down orange juice.

This week? It was Jonathan Roy and his legendary father St. Patrick that took the forefront in a playoff game in Chicoutimi, as they displayed actions disrespectful to the fans and even the game itself.

If you didn't see it, (and I'll be surprised if you didn't) then Patrick Roy (the coach of the Quebec Ramparts) allegedly (you won't get a straight answer on this) motioned to his son Jonathan during a brawl. Jonathan—a backup goalie for Quebec—skated across the ice and essentially mugged Chicoutimi goaltender Bobby Nadeau. 

Now, a lot of times goalie fights are a thing of beauty—that's right I said beauty—they don't happen very often, but when they do, they're a treat.

However, this wasn't a fight.

Nadeau never waved Roy over, and wasn't wailing on any Chicoutimi players unfairly—he was standing there watching as Roy flew across the ice to pick a fight with him after turning down Roy's earlier invitation to 'dance.'

You could argue that Nadeau should have been prepared. Well, that's all in how you see it, and, frankly, the only way to know if Nadeau didn't notice Roy until it was too late or not is to be in Nadeau's mind as it's happening. 

Following the younger Roy's win, he proceeded to skate the length of the ice, egging on the crowd with a barrage of middle fingers.

So should fighting be allowed in Junior Hockey?

Well let's get one things straight: This was not a fight. It was a one-sided slaughter.

Bench-clearing brawls happen—not often, but they do, and no one says a thing except "let's see that again." 

Goalie fights happen and no one does anything except create a top 10 list of the best goalie fights in history.

All of the sudden a kid blazes across the ice to assault an unassuming opponent and that's a fight? Obviously, I'm missing a step here.

Second of all: Of all of these people who are pining for a ban on fighting in Junior Hockey—how many "fights" other than this one have they seen?

If anything, fighting in the junior ranks is gone about in a more respectable way than in the NHL. How many NHL players start with the two players taking off their helmets, spacing themselves and then going at it? Then think of how many start with one guy just grabbing the other and punching.

Hell, in Junior C, the players have to take their opponent's helmets off if they want to fight. Sure, it's in an effort to avoid a suspension, but that's respect if I ever saw it.

That's not to say that every fight in junior starts fairly, or every fight in the NHL starts unfairly—however, whether it's because there's visors on the helmets or not, these muggings and discipline issues happen far more frequently at the NHL level than the OHL level.

If I'm Gary Bettman, that's embarrassing. 

If I'm David Branch and the CHL, I'm happy the kids are learning to it respectably. 

The point is: it's a level of professional sports. A lot of these kids have NHL dreams, and there's only so much you can do to protect them (like the no-touch icing), and taking out fighting isn't one of them.

If you were to take a kid's right to fight in junior away from him, then what happens if he goes to the NHL and starts jawing with Georges Laraque? All of the sudden, he's gone from a league that tip-toes around fighting, to a league where some markets can only put fans in the stands with fighting.

Kids are going to be kids. If you outlaw fighting, then it's not going to stop stupid incidents like this happening in the future—if anything, the pent up frustration could potentially see a rise in questionable plays.

With the level of aggression in sports, you're always at risk of someone boiling over and, without an outlet like fighting, I honestly think that the players would be at a greater risk.

Granted, it's an ugly play, an ugly incident, and a controversial topic. But something good did come out of it:

We got to see the word brouhaha and phrases like flipping the bird, and one-fingered salute grace the pages of websites like TSN.ca.

I'd like to personally thank Jonathon Roy for inadvertently teaching me that brouhaha is a legitimate word. I guess, if this hockey thing doesn't work out, then maybe he could teach English. 

Just remember to bring your own lunch money—I don't know if the principal would appreciate you jumping him for his.