McCarty on Fighting in the NHL

I wrote an article a little while back on the topic of fighting in the “new” National Hockey League in which I asked if the role of the “Hockey Goon” is obsolete.

This weekend, Darren McCarty wrote in the Calgary Flames blog about his fight with Georges Laraque on October 24, 2006. Here is what McCarty had to say about the role that fighting plays in the NHL.

Fighting is not really as big a part of the game as it used to be because the game has changed and the players in the game have changed, but it is still there.

I have pretty much done it all my life. You don’t go looking for it but if it is there, you have to do it.

McCarty has a lot of respect for Laraque and he should, he took a little bit of a beating from him in this fight (See Video Below). However, as McCarty says, he would rather tangle with Georges than have someone else have to do it. For what it’s worth, you can’t fault a guy for having the stones to stand in there against one of the “Heavyweights” in the league.

Here is the video of the fight in question: