Well I think I know the code as well as anyone having played the game, and
having scouted it for 25 plus years and as well as having been a coach.and I
played at the rough and tumble senior level! :-)You can try to ignore a
challenge but you do so at your own risk. There is no one version of "the
code". It can be interpreted many ways and remember we are talking about a
witness that was helping to defend a player in court hence since there is no
written code you will err or interpret it in his favor. No one can nail him
for perjury! Also the code can ever vary league to league. In some places
and hockey cultures you do indeed skate away, such as Europe.



My personal view of the code is.you never run away if anyone is challenging
you and if you are going to fight you drop the stick and gloves to do so and
NEVER using the stick. You don't cheap shot, no eye gouges, hair pulling,
sucker punches, fish hooking, and once the guy is down you ease off. You
don't beat up on non fighters unless they were a clear aggressor or really
did something to REALLY deserve it like a spear. You don't take on a really
smaller player again unless he is the clear aggressor. And if you want
respect you don't take crap. Crap is not a hook or even an accidental high
stick, but a spear, butt end skate kicking sure are and if a guy does that
he should answer for it! Now of you draw the call you let it go and let the
guys coach settle up with him, if not, you have to do something about it or
he will do it again.



Now to the meat of the issue.you don't just face a challenger you have to
respond to him! If you do not face the challenge you take a gamble that
since you sort of have broken the code by not responding (see above), the
other guy might also break it in a nasty manner as we here when the stick
was used. You run a risk as to what may happen if you violate the norm. So I
stick to my advice. But there is more to it than just facing the guy. You
have to react to what he is doing. A simple rule of thumb is if you don't
really want to go don't close to punching range. You circle, keep just out
of range and jaw with him. Now the code says "you don't use your stick." The
code was actually broken by the use of the stick and in hockey we have major
penalties and expulsions for that reinforcing that notion, ditto for any use
of protective equipment. You are supposed to challenge by other means. Of
course if your opponent does not drop their stick it is hard for you to drop
yours to challenge. Still you are never supposed to USE the stick in that
sort of manner, it is a cheap shot. So what do you do if he is getting
chippy with the stick? Does it mean that the code is out and you can walk
away? No, you do so at your own risk. The code also says that you respond
and defend yourself, not by using the stick, you can shove back or, like I
said, remain at a distance and jaw etc until the linesmen gets there or you
get help. You don't just stand there and say "thank you sir may I have
another." You tell him "if you want to go, drop the stick you wuss" in much
more colorful and offensive language. :-) If you don't do that you either
can hurt like this kid did or you end up retaliating and ending up in
trouble too and maybe even STILL getting hurt so the only real things to do
are to back off that hair, not running away or turning away but not allowing
him to nail you or fight him!.



Now they brought up a good point in the case, he may have been trying to
goad the guy into a penalty. There are many tactics for that but no matter
how you do it, you have to face the consequences and maybe take some punches
or a stick.so the rule of thumb is simple "don't be stupid about how you do
this.t can be painful"



Add on the next point, a guy who just skates away loses the respect of
everyone, other players, coaches, fans.. Unless he is a GREAT finesse player
he loses face and even if he is a great player, if he stirred the pot to
start it he will have little respect held for him. And if there is no
respect held for you the rink gets to be a more dangerous place. Every cheap
shot artist out there will feel like he can get away with that little extra
as will even every plain old physical player. Plus no player wants to be a
pariah. To say "just skate away" is to expect hockey players to assume a
persona that is just not a likely one. No one wants to look like a sissy or
coward. And think of this kid, all of his buddies involved in scraps, is he
likely to want to be the "guy that skated away"? NOT realistic!



In the end it is less about the ":code", more about "common sense". Fact
one, you have an individual confronting you in a place where it is accepted
at least to some degree to fight. Fact two , that person has a stick in
their hand. Fact three, you really don't know exactly what is going through
their head if anything is indeed at that moment aside form adrenalin. Fact
four, running away is not really an option.this where the code really comes
into play.you can get away with not dropping the gloves with no loss of face
but not responding is a major loss of honor. You can't just skate away you
have to react...even if it is jawing. So you have to at least stand up a
little bit. Here is where common sense takes over. You NEVER stay close
enough for something like this to happen unless you are ready to do
something--defend yourself. ALWAYS assume the worst and either drop the
gloves or back off a few feet facing him while talking to him so you know
where he is and what he is doing, until help arrives in the form of the
friendly neighborhood goon or the officials. You can stall that way but if
you let him get in close you had better be planning on going with him
because he may go with you or without you. The code doesn't let you run but
it also doesn't mean that you have to be stupid.



I came to my conclusions years ago as guys that I have seen get hurt badly
in these things 99.9 % are not the guys who respond but those who don't. I
have seen guys get major facial injuries because they stuck close and
assumed nothing would happen. And then we have Brashear and Moore.in extreme
cases. This is hockey and in ANY league there is a lot of testosterone out
there. Even in college games I see guys get challenged and while no coach
wants to see an extra penalty none want to see a shrinking violet which is
why I hear NCAA coaches that I know say with pride over recruits, "he is a
tough kid" even though no fights are expected, physical involvement and a
lack of fear is expected. So even in the NCAA there is a degree of honor
involved and not wanting to look "chicken".



In the final analysis, was the expert witness dead wrong? No. the kid didn't
have to drop the gloves and could have left the scene in the code, but what
the witness left out was "only after he had stood up and the cavalry had
arrived". It smells to me like he was either trying to draw a call and got
burnt or was trying to make a stand ala the code but not really wanting to
fight. Either way he didn't handle the situation well. And it does smell a
LOT of the former, after all he was cross checked THREE TIMES, was there
really any doubt as to what was happening? He wanted that instigator call.
And after THREE cross checks the smart man says "the hell with trying to
draw the call, I have it now or I don't, it is time to either back off until
help gets here or lose the gloves and drop this turkey before he hits me
again". And if it was the latter, he simply didn't want to fight you have
options. You back off a bit still but facing him as he is challenging you
with his stick. You can even raise your stick a little from a few feet off.
You lose no face as you can say "that so and so was using the stick, if he
wanted to fight he should have dropped his gloves" Of course he will say "I
wanted to go but he didn't drop the gloves" and both of you would
technically would be right! But the extremes of running away or standing
there like a tin soldier taking high cross checks are BOTH bad moves.the
first is unrealistic the second is dumb! There is an in between. Now in this
case there may have been help coming as there was a general melee so there
is another option.go and fight a defensive fight. You don't actually turtle
but you do your best to wrestle then take him to the ice and cover up as
well as you can not allowing him to land any real blows. Turning away as our
"expert" suggests may have done no good, he may just go at you with a cross
check from behind or maybe even a sucker punch.I have seen them happen too.



The bottom line is never ASSUME you won't get hurt in a confrontation,
because it makes an ASS out of U and ME. :-) The advice that I give is from
decades of watching, playing and working in hockey and having seen guys get
hurt trying to just walk away or figuring "he won't go any farther and will
give up so I'll just stand here.' And my experience is that few North
American hockey players will just walk away code or no code.



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