Helmets are not optional

Fans who show up at a hockey game hoping to see a fight or two, may be disappointed this season.

Prior to the exhibition season, the WHL issued a memo to all its teams that new fighting rules were being implemented for the upcoming season. The newest, and likely most controversial, is making sure fighters leave their helmets on instead of tossing them.

Players who toss their helmets will receive an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in addition to the fighting major. The additional penalty will not be assessed if the helmet comes off unintentionally.

"One area we've addressed is the removal of helmets," WHL commissioner Ron Robison said at press conference in Kelowna on Wednesday. "The linesmen will be instructed to break up those fights immediately and make sure that the fight doesn't continue."

Americans veteran defenseman Tyler Schmidt, who had 10 fights last season, does not like the new rule.

"I don't agree with the rule," he said. "It's taking way from the game and how it has always been. The amount of broken hands will go up. They are slowly taking fighting out of the game. You have to stick up for each other -- you can't let players take advantage of your team."

The helmet controversy comes after the death of Don Sanderson, who fell and hit his head on the ice during an Ontario senior hockey league game. He died Jan. 2

"We look at those situations, but we also look at the rate of those situations, those incidents and the level of frequency and so forth, and is it going to be a risk to our players," Robison said. "We think we've taken steps in this particular case where we're taking the players' safety in interest."