Anthony Jenkins / The Globe and MailAnthony Jenkins/The Globe and Mail
Angelo Mosca is a former professional football player and wrestler. He was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1987. His memoir Tell Me To My Face (with Steve Milton) is in stores now or can be purchased online through Lulu.com.
Are you a hockey fan?
When I first came here [from the University of Notre Dame] the biggest thing was Hockey Night in Canada on a Saturday night. But then they started taking these teams and dividing them up, making new teams, watering down hockey. I don't have any interest in hockey any more. … It's a shame what they've done to the game.
What did you think of fighting in hockey?
I didn't really care. It's part of the game, I always thought.
It's not part of any other game. It's certainly not part of football. Why do you think that is?
It's amazing. If you fought in football, you got thrown out of the game. Maybe they should start doing that in hockey.
If that's the reason they sign a guy, to be a goon, that's ruining the sport. The general managers who sign a guy just to go out there and start a fight, they should be fired. How are you going to teach a guy to play hockey if you want him to be a goon?
Well, the thinking is, they have more skilled players to play hockey, and a team roster needs one or two tough guys to protect them.
Just because I was physically tough [playing pro football]doesn't mean I was ever a goon. That's the last thing I wanted to be. I was an athlete. I used to like hockey, the Beliveaus, the Moores. I knew Bobby Baun, Bobby Orr. These guys were hockey players. When Gretzky was there [in Edmonton] he was protected by Semenko.
The prime role of a goon, a so-called enforcer, was, and is, to protect a team's stars. The message was: Mess with our star and you'll have to deal with our tough guy.
That's a shame. The people are being cheated. They're not seeing the best hockey if they have a goon out there.
A recent spate of high-profile deaths of former NHL enforcers has shone a spotlight on the physical and psychological toll the role takes on hockey's designated fighters. It's said to be the toughest role in hockey.
I'm not a psychologist, but it seems pretty simple. Why put someone out there to hurt somebody? I always thought it took away from the game. I played a game, but I never tried to hurt somebody.
Did you ever fight during a game? Were you ever thrown out?
Yeah, I've been thrown out of a couple of games through my career. Fighting. I was very physical. Very physical. During my time, everything I did was legal. You could spear a guy with your head. You could head-slap him. I was ahead of my time lifting weights. I was a very powerful guy. That's how I got through a game. It was ability. I played by the rules.
We can debate the value and necessity of fighting in hockey, but if you look at a photo of a fight, the crowd is on its feet, cheering and hollering.
You're talking about the culture of the young ones. You take people 45 and older, they don't like the fights. They like the art of the game.
Some would say fighting is part of the art of the game.
No, not really. When you talk of Baun, Horton, Keon, I can't remember any real goon playing on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the sixties.
The NHL could eliminate fighting tomorrow if it wanted to: Simply make a rule to eject and suspend anyone involved in a fight, as they do in international hockey. They don't because they see it as a selling point.
How would they get rid of it? Do what they do in the CFL: Fine them and, if you're thrown out two games in a row, suspend them for a year. I think that would get the message across. You suspend a guy for a whole year with no pay, that would get some of these guys' attention.
How can the culture of hockey be changed regarding fighting? Many fans expect and enjoy fights.
I'd think there would be more people who don't want to see fights than do want to see them. Good players are able to skate, make plays, score. I think that Crosby kid is entertaining. These players are entertainers. Not the fighters.
Some find a good hockey fight entertaining.
Well, go to a boxing match then.
Have you ever been punched or punched anybody in a non-game situation?
Oh sure. I can't remember when. It's been so long ago.
If you were at a hockey game and a fight broke out, what would you do? Cheer? Boo? Look away? Leave?
I don't cheer and I don't boo. I go as an observer because I'm an athlete. I clap on a good play. I'd probably go to the washroom. They're wasting my time.