Think you are confusing tough hockey with pure assault with an intent to injure. One has nothing to do with the other.
Makes me sad that some people actually think this kind of behavior is acceptable in or outside the ring. It's not.
... yes, this an excellent point. Even going full-on King Clancy, Red Horner, John Ferguson, Dave Shultz and all of the rest of them contemporaneously, those who followed, there was a "limit", a line you werent supposed to cross. "The Code". The axiom "Finish Your Check" did not infer nor suggest the right to hospitalize your opponent. Guys who totally snapped, had absolutely no self control, "lost it", were a danger to other players & themselves, a liability, generally weeded out through AAA or Major Junior, perhaps winding up in the old Eastern League or wherever, regardless of their "upside" in terms of skill.
Unfortunately, within the culture of Canadian hockey ranks, and I came up through the system when fighting & intimidation reigned supreme late 60's & early 70's from Junior to the pro's, winning was/is all and didnt really matter to a lot of organizations, their Managers, Scouts & Coaches how they achieved those goals. If you were big, say a defenceman, regardless how much skill you possessed, automatically expected to fight. For many, that was distasteful so they just up & quit. Others made the team over superior talent simply because of their size. As a goalie in my case, I can tell you that wasnt much fun, because generally half of these Monsters couldnt even skate backwards without falling on their butts, nor did I personally share or even appreciate tactics of the kind espoused by the Canadian Coaching fraternity of that era.
In my book, damn straight you "pull your punches", and if you cant control yourself, get off the ice, get off my team. Personally, I snapped a few times, whacked a guy across the head with my paddle when he literally took a Swan Dive at me from 20' out after Id smothered the puck & was waiting for a whistle, saw it in his eyes before he launched (seem to re-call getting a Major for it & playing short, but point made) & knocked him out cold, all Hell breaking loose as a result; couple of other times when one psycho tried to cut my throat with his blade, deliberate & nasty two hander; deliberately kicked in the head when I was down with a skate point when I was again smothering a puck; dozens of stitches as a result; all manner of insanity. The opposition trying to literally send me to the infirmary and on orders from their bench to do so.
Its interesting, you being of Finnish extraction, as Carl Brewer, who contributed much to the development of the game in Suomi Land as well bemoaned this mentality, that "tough hockey" had absolutely nothing to do with maiming or injuring your opponents, everything to do with "mental & physical toughness" in never saying "die", playing with pride, honour & integrity, like a God Damned "Sportsman" and not some psych job out on Parole. Dirty tricks & yapping, something he was absolutely adroit at employing, no problem, and you saw that, still see it in Finnish players. He too had a real problem with fighting, and in fact was painted as a guy who "Turtled" when challenged in (memory fails to retrieve the exact incident, but its there) either his Rookie or Sophomore year with the Leafs.... He was a mouthpiece, tremendously talented but an outlier, an agitator, and when the Bell finally rang he refused to answer it. Branded a "Coward" as a result for years thereafter, but one of the many difficulties he had when he decided to take on Eagleson & the NHL Pension Fund. None of the "Old School" players believed in him, lacked "guts", staying power.
Guess he showed them huh?
