The Los Angeles Kings beat the Boston Bruins, 7-2, on Sunday. Despite the fact that it was a hockey game with a lopsided score, there were no hockey fights. Not that the players didn't try.
At one point in the second period both goaltenders dropped their gloves and tried to meet at center ice for a good old-fashioned goalie fight. Unfortunately for the paying customers, league officials got involved as the referees and linesmen grabbed both goalies and refused to let Boston's Jeremy Swayman and LA's Darcy Kuemper actually fight.
What an incredibly disappointing decision by the officials here. This is basically like telling Halley's Comet to find another route through the solar system.
According to an Associated Press article from a year ago, there hasn't been a single goalie fight since the start of the pandemic and there have only been three in the last decade. At this point stopping a goalie fight is like depriving the world of a historically significant event. Who knows how long we'll have to wait for the next one.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Referees Refused to Let Kings and Bruins Goalies Fight.
