Of all the stupid and shameful things high school athletes do, I rank fighting as No. 1.

Nothing is more embarrassing for the team, the coach, or the school than to watch opposing players duke it out like cavemen.

Thus, I was appalled by the action of a few players from the North Branch boys hockey team during the opening round of the Pine City Holiday Classic Hockey Tournament Dec. 27.

The boys lost 7-1 to Minneapolis East and after the game, when the players were shaking hands, a short-lived mini chaos erupted when a fight broke out.

The fight quickly ended and no one was seriously hurt (thankfully) but the damage had already been done.

The frustration of a losing season was clear as day, but it still doesn't excuse fighting.

Soon, suspensions will be handed out by North Branch Activities Director Becky Leuer. The penalties for the fighting should be swift and severe to discourage this type of behavior from happening again.

"Fighting has no place in athletics at any level," Leuer said.

I couldn't think a of worse thing to happen to the hockey team. North Branch is a team which has already struggled and now it will have to play without two experienced players.

Sadly, the fight is what many people talked about on the ride home. Not Jack Williams break-away goal in the second period or the other finer details of the game.

The North Branch boys hockey team is filled with high-class, responsible young men who just want to play hockey. It's a shame the actions of a select few will tarnish the reputation for the rest of the team.

I am not a hockey hater, but I am a hater of the fight culture that permeates the sport, especially in the National Hockey League. No other professional sport tolerates the type of barbaric behavior like the NHL. (United Fight Championship is not a professional sport.)

So for part of the blame, I point the finger at the NHL that allows this culture to fester and spread like a cancer to the high school level.

It irks me that so called "professionals" can drop their gloves in the middle of hockey game, with kids and families watching and fist fight. Is this the message they want to portray to family and young players? I hope not.

The worst part of it all, they barely get a slap on the wrist, but at the high school level players get suspended. This my friends, is what you call a double standard.

For the fighters out there, save it for the back yard, not for the ice rink.

North Branch head coach Darrell Schulte has the right attitude toward fighting.

"It was very embarrassing."

Comment from S.L., 1/4/08

How can you say that UFC(Ultimate Fighting Championship) is not a sport? You sir, are uninformed and low-brow. Whereas fighting in other professional sports is not needed, nor is it really frowned upon. I, personally, am an amateur fighter, hoping to make it as far as the UFC someday. And when someone like yourself runs down the sport I someday will call my livelihood, I don't take it too kindly. We train just as hard, if not much harder than other professional athletes. We are multi-faceted and most of the time very intelligent people. There are a few that give us a bad name, but that gives people like yourself no right to run us or our profession down. I fight as a hobby, a supplement to what little free time I have. I am a Soldier, you see, currently deployed in Afghanistan, defending your right to say what you want, among other things. So when some desk jockey sits in his chair and disparages something that he himself would never have to cajones to do, it kind of irks me. I'm guessing you would call boxing a sport, and boxing is far less safe and controlled than MMA(mixed martial arts, UFC in itself is a promotion). Thank you for your time, and I look forward to possibly debating the issue further, that is if you don't cower behind your desk and disparage me for voicing my opinion.

Comment from Mike Lenards, 1/4/08

I dont like the fighting either,but this is what happens when the refs let the game get out of hand. If the refs dont make the calls the players will get even. If you watched the game the calls(or lack of calls) were some of the worst I have seen ,very one sided. east got away with everything.And the score showed it.

Comment from scott, 1/18/08

i just konw that hockey shouldnt be a fighting matter but things happen good and bad and i do agree
with lenards that that game was a little one sided. we're a team that has no where to go. we have to take ice hours that no other teams want (5:30 A.M. and 10:10 P.M.)
we never got much respect from other teams and i admit we didn't help it at all. now i've played for north branch my whole life, and i would never trade this team for any high stakes team in the state
i am a north branch hockey goaltender and this is my team we have no home to play at, we have little fans (your mom doesn't count) we a team that has to raise from nothing and try to make a great team. rome wasn't built in a day. like i said things happen for better and worse i never wanted this fight to happen but it did. we have two ways to solve it, we can try to move on and work as a team, play with honor and respect or we can hang our heads a quit our hockey program like teams at camps have said. there's a chance we can lose both ways

Comment from scott, 1/18/08

i just know that hockey shouldnt be a fighting matter but things happen good and bad and i do agree
with lenards that that game was a little one sided. we're a team that has no where to go. we have to take ice hours that no other teams want (5:30 A.M. and 10:10 P.M.)
we never got much respect from other teams and i admit we didn't help it at all. now i've played for north branch my whole life, and i would never trade this team for any high stakes team in the state
i am a north branch hockey goaltender and this is my team we have no home to play at, we have little fans (your mom doesn't count) we a team that has to raise from nothing and try to make a great team. rome wasn't built in a day. like i said things happen for better and worse i never wanted this fight to happen but it did. we have two ways to solve it, we can try to move on and work as a team, play with honor and respect or we can hang our heads a quit our hockey program like teams at camps have said. there's a chance we can lose both ways