Boston Bruins Shawn Thornton speaks up against anti-fighting groups -NHL News Update
Boston Bruins veteran enforcer, Shawn Thornton, became one of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) first players to have stood up and spoken against the anti-fighting in the NHL groups, who he regards as people just trying to exploit the lost lives against
the game.
The NHL went through one of its harshest years in history as it lost three of its players, two who were currently active and one retired, in different instances resulting from either drug abuse, depression and other regrettable reasons.
According to Thornton, it is a very serious issue and indeed sad to have seen the death of such talent but that does not mean changing the game will solve anything.
“It kind of [expletive] pisses me off that people take this opportunity to try and exploit a certain part of the game”, said Thornton. “I think those are very, very sad instances, but I also think exploiting them for a part of the game isn’t the right way
to go”.
When looking at Shawn Thornton, it is not hard to tell that the 34-year-old forward has gone through a lot himself. Selected as Toronto Maple Leafs 190th overall pick during round-seven of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, Thornton has established himself
as more than capable of discussing the mentioned issue.
Being a player who has been himself registering 100 plus penalty minutes for the past three seasons, Thornton believes that being in fights is part of the game which cannot possible be excluded. If it was the direct cause of those deaths, he would not be
here himself.
The first incident came when New York Rangers' enforcer, Derek Boogaard, died of an accidental overdose of medicine, followed by Vancouver Canucks' fighter, Rick Rypien, and former NHL player, Wade Belak, who both supposedly committed suicide.
“Remember the people, the men they were, not what they did for a living”, added Thornton.
Thornton, being an intense physical player knows how the NHL works and what fans come to see. Instead of cheerleaders, ice hockey is a sport of men playing against men and when that comes into the question, fights are bound to break out.
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