During last Friday's BCHL hockey game that saw the Penticton Vees and Trail Smoke Eaters play one another, fans in attendance witnessed a rare site.

A hockey player (Elias Grossman) was injured during a hockey fight. Elias Grossman, who is in his second season with the Vees, engaged in a fight with Trail defenceman, Cam Brodie, early in the the third period. Grossman came out on the wrong side of this fight and as a result had to leave the game for repairs. In the end, he didn't return to the game, and will most likely miss a few games due to stitches in his face. At the conclusion of the fight, each of the players were given a five minute major penalty for fighting and the game resumed.

With this recent fight, the debate of fighting in hockey will continue.

As fans witnessed the mess on Elias's face when he left the game, those same fans were left to wonder why this type of behaviour is tolerated in the sport of hockey. Fighting in the sport of hockey has been going on as long as fans have been watching, both at the junior levels as well as the professional levels. It's the only professional sport that allows this type of action. People continue to ask why young and older men alike in various leagues are permitted to engage in hockey fights year after year.

As a follower of the game of hockey for many years, I've had the pleasure of debating this very topic on many different occasions with many different people.

It's not very often, although it does happen, that players get seriously hurt during these hockey fights. Grossman will indeed bounce back and get back to action sooner than later. However, the debate will go on.

If the NHL and the other professional leagues put a stop to the hockey fights in each of their leagues, then you would see the banishment of this activity at the lower levels. Until this takes place, hockey fights will continue to play a role at the junior level.

It is my firm belief that more players get hurt and injured from dirty checks or reckless usage of the hockey stick at all levels of hockey. If you are ever in doubt about this theory, you need to look no further than the nightly NHL highlight packages shown on your television.

Most recently Philadelphia Flyers players Steve Downie and Jesse Boulerice were suspended for 20 and 25 games respectively by the National Hockey League. Their actions showed a complete disregard for the rules of the game as well as for their opponents safety. In Downie's case, he hunted down Ottawa Senator, Dean McAmmond, and in doing so, planted a vicious elbow to the face which rendered McAmmond face first on the ice. The end result was Downie receiving a 20 game suspension while McAmmond has still not returned to action, nearly a month since the incident. The incident with Boulerice was a little different than teammate Downie's, however he received a harsher sentence from the NHL disciplinary committee. Boulerice chose to use his stick in a manner that the NHL has been trying to get in check for the last few years. In a game against the Vancouver Canucks, Boulerice decided to brutally cross check Canucks forward Ryan Kesler in the face. In this particular incident, Kelser didn't see his attacker coming and was a defenceless opponent. This blindsided play by the Philadelphia thug was frowned upon by the NHL as the league stated, by issuing Boulerice with a 25 game suspension.

Some will ask what these two incidents have to do with the Grossman-Brodie fight that took place in that BCHL game. The answer quite simply is this. The BCHL fight was an agreed upon action by two willing players, while these two incidents where down right dirty, one sided, plays.

In closing, I will stick to my theory that players in all leagues are safer engaging in hockey fights than they are from dirty checks and stick swinging incidents.

Although the action of fighting may seem barbaric to many, they truly do serve a purpose and have their place in the great game of hockey. As Don Cherry has stated before, how many fans get up to leave games when fights break out? Quite the contrary actually. These fights most often get louder cheers than the goals scored.

As well, an interesting statistic of the new NHL came last week, fighting in the NHL is up 40% from one year ago.

See you at the arenas.