After the NHL's physicality and fights in its recent Four Nations Face-Off, fans might look to see a similar physicality in the NCAA.
The tournament included a rivalry game between the United States and Canada that saw Arizona-born Matthew and Brady Tkachuk fight two Canadians within the first few seconds of the game to send a message. However, college players have to find different ways around fighting as it's banned by the NCAA.
According to the USA Hockey rulebook, a fight is defined as a player punching another player regardless of the punch making contact.
Any player in the NHL who fights is assessed a five-minute major penalty. The same rule applies in the NCAA but players are also subjected to a game disqualification in addition to the major penalty.
That being said, the NCAA has a loose definition of fighting, and the penalty is up to the discretion of the referee.
Any player who drops the gloves and throws another player to the ground will be charged a major penalty and a game disqualification. However, someone pushing another player or grabbing a jersey will most likely be separated by the referees and sent back to the bench.
If players are constantly making trouble on the ice, they could get a two-minute roughing penalty as a warning. Still, National Collegiate Hockey Conference director of officiating Mike Schmitt said true fights rarely break out in the NCAA.
"There is no fighting," Schmitt said. "You'd be kicked out, you'd also get a game disqualification the next game ... One punch can constitute a fight ... But we've seen it probably 100 times that when there's a whistle, there's a scrum."
Scrums rarely result in a player's ejection from the game. Referees will try to calm things down and resume play unless a few players are repeatedly causing problems.
"There's that little pop to the face as one punch, that's not going to constitute a fight," Schmitt said. "I don't want that to constitute a fight. And we get some pretty aggressive scrums ... where the whistle is blown, they grab on more to the sweaters and kind of jab up into the chin area. Maybe grab a face mask; that's a five-minute major."
Regardless of the rules, fights can still happen in the NCAA. For one, ASU went viral for multiple fights breaking out in a game against Alaska-Fairbanks last season.
READ MORE: ASU hockey goes viral as a result of late game brawl against Alaska-Fairbanks
While players entered a scrum in the corner, then-sophomore forward Tucker Ness and a Nanook left their respective penalty boxes to fight at center ice. Following the fight, head coach Greg Powers said the fight was not representative of his players or college hockey.
"It's not indicative of Tucker Ness' character, and it was out of character for him," Powers said. "He's a good kid and a good human. He made a really, really poor decision, as did (Bruneski), and they are both paying the consequences of it and there (have) to be consequences."
Powers personally suspended Ness for the final four games of the season. If the fight were to happen today, players could be subjected to further suspension by Schmitt and NCHC commissioner Heather Weems.
The Sun Devils were not held under the wing of a conference during the 2023-24 season, so Powers took punishment into his own hands. The Sun Devils still, without fighting, find a way to send a message and support their teammates.
In the recent series against Western Michigan, fans saw players like graduate forward Lukas Sillinger and freshman forward Cullen Potter play extremely physical games. Their physicality essentially told the Broncos they couldn't get away with targeting star players or dirty hits.
READ MORE: ASU hockey sees a strong weekend against Western Michigan, not rewarded in rankings
Physicality away from the scrum is essential to establish a strong forecheck and create turnovers in the offensive zone while sending a message. Sophomore forward Kyle Smolen admired the Sun Devils' aggressive forechecks against Western Michigan.
"Something that's positive that we can take away is that we established a forecheck from start to finish," Smolen said. "Some games we were just kind of sitting back hoping, making hope plays here and there."
Edited by Jack Barron, Abigail Beck and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at Gbarberi@asu.edu and follow @Giobarberio1 on X.
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Giovanni is a sophomore studying history. This is his third semester with The State Press.
