Why do opponents grab jerseys in an ice hockey fight?

Question

Why do opponents grab jerseys in an ice hockey fight?

Answer 1

To hold one another up and gain leverage.  Once they fall the referees break them up.

Answer 2

to hold up for leverage and also so they can hold the other guys arms back so its not a free-for-all of punches

Answer 3

What do you bloodthirsty creeps find enjoyable in a hockey fight? You consider someones face pounded entertaining? Those who do are shameful.

Answer 4

if you watch when they grab the jerseys, they usually grab the shoulder pads and twist which restricts the arm movement heavily. it helps, keeping the other player from throwing punches with that arm.

Answer 5

Because nothing is funnier than watching a grown man swing blindly with his shirt pulled up over his head.

Sammy must be one of those people who think hockey fights are just immoral.  Ooo Hockey fans are so bloodthirsty because they see an occasional fight between individuals.  People like you always complain about the violence in hockey but never in the other major sports.  Lets take a look:

Baseball- Bench Clearing brawls are almost the norm in the MLB nowadays.  How often do you see a player get hit by a pitch then take off running at the pitcher. Once a week?  Then everyone on the team gets involved and a huge brawl starts.  How often are there full team brawls in the NHL?  There have only been a few large-scale ugly events in hockey fighting.  The last one was probably the Avs-Wings fight in 97.

Basketball-  You have star players throwing punches at other guys while running at full speed towards them (Mello).  You have brawls WITH FANS.  When was the last time a player went into the stands and started fighting with fans in hockey?

Football-  For the most physical sport besides hockey, the game is relatively tame with fighting.  There are your occasional spats during training camp, but the last big event I can remember was the fight between the Cowboys and Bills in the early 90s.  Didnt Leon Lett crack some guy over the head with a camera tripod?  And Al Haynesworth stepped on a guys head a couple years back.

Soccer-  The fans are the ones who brawl not the players for the most part.

Curling- This one time I saw someone hit a player in the face with the stone.  And yes Curling is a major sport.

MMA-  Yes this too is now a major sport (probably more popular than hockey nowadays which is depressing) and guess what, it is fighting.

So instead of rattling off about hockey being bloodthirsty, examine the sports where fighting is not the norm, but the fighting is way more intense.

Answer 6

They do it to hang onto their opponent.  A Hockey fight is like boxing on skates, so it makes it very hard to stay on your feet when you get hit.  Once you hit the ice, the linesman/referee will break up the fight.  Now, believe it or not, a lot of these fights are between guys that are actually friends.  Sometimes they don't even know who they are pummeling until they are broken up.  I once saw Bob Probert going at it with Joey Kocur.  ((they use to be roomates))  And when they were broke up, Probert looked at Kocur and smiled and you could read his lips on the TV, he said "Hey Joe!"  Nothing wrong with a good clean skin fight in Hockey.

Answer 7

Yeah, I'm thinking it has to do with balance, needing something to hold on to.  It's hard to fight on skates!  Couldn't tell by watching some of them though.........sigh....I love a good hockey fight.....

omg sammy, are you serious?  are you gonna go cry to your mommy now?

Answer 8

to get leverage and a hold of something so they can get closer to get punches in. back in the days before they tied the jerseys down you cuz pull the jerseys over the opponets head so they ***** see making it harder to fight.