After long-time speculation, the QMJHL officially made the bold move this off-season to ban fighting from the junior league, and unfortunately, we're already seeing the ramifications.
Despite just being pre-season, Rory Pillng of the Cape Breton Eagles suffered a major injury to his leg, forcing him to be out for 6-8 weeks, and while he will be back soon, this is already a side effect of the ban.
The injury came as a result of physical play, and without the threat and intimidating of fighting, there's just no way to police this type of thing between the players.
Sure, banning fighting seems like a way to protect players, but foul and dirty play, unless overt and obvious to the officials can go unpunished, and that could lead to more instances like this one.
Ultimately, in today's day and age, it's easy to see why fighting was banned, but if this type of thing continues to happen, the injuries and foul play could spiral and become a hinderance to the league.
