Old era hockey versus new era

 The year is 2023 and times have certainly changed in the National Hockey League. Back twenty to twenty five years ago, the league was run by enforcers who loved to check and rack up the penalty minutes. That is how it was, an extremely tough sport that only a select few can handle. There were fights every day and relentless body checks were a normal occurrence. Now, the league is filled with a ton of smaller skilled players who do not really like to throw the body around, check, or fight. The art of the brute play style is slowly fading away. It is becoming more difficult for these players to stay in the league as no team wants a player that is going to rack up over a hundred penalty minutes a season. It just does not fit into the play style of the modern era. It is sad to see but understandable. Hockey separates itself from the others by allowing players to fight each other. That art form is slowly dying out of the game. However, a brute player is still needed to protect a team's star player from intentional dirty hits. It helps police the game when the referees refuse to do so. Body checking and fighting will always be a part of the game, but it is becoming less common as the decades come and go. When it is entirely phased out due to gameplay, people will regret how they were against physical play in the first place.