The most frightening aspect about the AHL fight on Tuesday — in which San Antonio’s Daniel Maggio’s straight right to the face literally knocked out San Diego’s Brian McGrattan — is that the incident caused barely a ripple in the industry, as if this sort of thing should be accepted as a cost of doing business in the world of pro hockey.
What this sort of thing is, is repulsive.
There is no place for sanctioned fistfights in 21st Century hockey in any league, not with all we’ve learned about CTE and brain injuries, and not with all we still do not know on the subject.