Hockey guys are generally good guys.. I have a friend who was a defenseman back in the 80's with the Flyers.. He is not the biggest Gretzky fan in the world but that is okay.. Guess he didn't enjoy getting beaten by the Oil his last couple years in the league.. Generally speaking their are enforcers on a team to protect the stars.. Used to be that way in football too and Baseball to a lesser extent (Baseball of course has now gone way over board with ego's and the like).. You can hear some great stories from guys who got tangled up with Gretzky or other stars and how they basically told him to fall down to the ice and not get up because they didn't want to deal with "insert enforcers name here"..
It is actually good for the game to be that way because it keeps cheap shots out of the equation.. Or at least it used too.. Hockey, in the states at least, has kind of fought this "Would we be more popular iwth less fighting or do we need more".. The physicallity in no small part helps the game more than hurts it IMO. The teams in Carolina, Tampa, Atlanta and such hurts the game more than helps it. Contraction, decreasing the sports footprint, would help a heck of a lot more.. That and a more balanced scheduale.. Kind of silly that Crosby and the Pens will only be in Chicago once every 3 years or something like that.. But that just comes from a non canuck who doesn't get to see his team very often because they... Welll... suck.
