Many Years Ago,

in my late teens and early twenties,

 I would go the Streatham ice rink to watch ice hockey, photograph Dan4th Nicholas/Flickr, I remember it for no other reason than the number of fights that took place on the ice, but with so much padding thankfully not a lot of damage was inflicted on either player, apparently the number of fights in ice hockey has not gone unnoticed, and so begins, Ice Wars, whose president A.J. Galante told Reuters that the popularity of such sports gave him confidence that he could turn his dream project into a success as well, Galante used to be the manager of the Danbury Trashers, a minor league hockey team so violent and controversial that it became the subject of a Netflix documentary titled “Untold: Crime and Penalties“,

yes that is correct, ice hockey but without the pucks, nets and sticks! “I’m calling it prizefighting on ice because, at the end of the day, there is no hockey being played,” Galante recently told Reuters. “There are no sticks, there are no pucks, there are no nets. So yes, it’s full hockey gear and it will predominantly be current hockey players. But it’s prizefighting with a purse on the line.” the fighters will be wearing full hockey gear and 4-ounce MMA gloves. They cannot intentionally remove their opponent’s helmet, but should the headgear come off due to a well-placed punch, the bout can continue, the rounds will feature ice hockey enforcers fighting for money. A match will consist of two, one-minute rounds with a 30-second “ice breaker” round in the event that the fighters each win one round,

although Ice Wars doesn’t currently have any ice hockey players from the NHL on its roster, it does have a number of players from the American Hockey League (AHL) as well as smaller leagues like the ECHL and LNAH. And some of them can’t wait to show off their skills, “As crazy as it might sound, this is something that I’ve always had in the back of my mind,” ice hockey player Daniel Amesbury said. “Six months ago I was saying to my buddy that it’s too bad there isn’t some sport where I can take advantage of this unique skill that I have.” so if you like the idea of ice hockey without nets, pucks and sticks, the first Ice Wars event will take place on May 21, in Edmonton, and will be live-streamed on FITE, I think I prefer the game with the usual accompaniments.