In September we told you about a new rule in the Ontario Hockey League that will result in automatic suspensions and team fines for players who fight more than 10 times during the season. As is always the case when the subject of fighting in hockey comes up, it was more than a little controversial in some circles. But the league was determined to reduce the number of fights (specifically staged fights that have no real purpose), and so far it seems to be working.

This is the first year the rule has been in place, and through the first 119 games of the regular season (as of Wednesday) the league has seen a 32-percent decrease in the number of fights when compared to the same number of games last season (via TSN's Dave Naylor).

"I'm surprised, I really am," OHL commissioner David Branch told TSN. "I didn't think there would be that kind of immediate, shall we say, impact on the number of fights."

Had the rule been in place a year ago it would have affected players across the league, including league leader Ty Bilcke and his 37 fights. Through the first month of the regular season, no player has dropped the gloves more than five times (Joshua Chapman is the league leader with five) while only Bilcke and Scott Sabourin have dropped the gloves as many as four times (the full leaderboard can be seen at hockeyfights.com).

According to the rule, players who fight between 11-15 times will receive a two-game suspension, while fights 16-20 will result in a two-game suspension plus a $1,000 fine for the team.

While the rule has no doubt been a factor in the sudden decrease in fights, you have to wonder if players aren't just picking and choosing their spots at this point in the season (which, in the end, is the whole point of the rule). It will be interesting to see how these numbers look as the season progresses, and whether or not players are more liberal in their willingness to fight depending on where they sit under the threshold. What happens later in the year as the season starts to wind down and players are still below their 10-fight limit? It's not hard to imagine that the gloves won't be coming off a little easier at that point. Like, say, when one of your teammates gets run through the glass or is leveled coming through the neutral zone.

Colin Campbell, the NHL's director of hockey operations, is also quoted in the TSN story and talks about what impact, if any, the OHL rule might one day have on the NHL.

"For those who think fighting has a place in the game, I think this (rule) is an important element to preserve it because you want to preserve the combustible fight but get rid of the one-dimensional player," Campbell told Naylor. "We haven't discussed fighting lately with the GM's but from a hockey operations point of view we are supportive. When we get a chance we can discuss the OHL's use of this rule."

(It's worth pointing out that Windsor Spitfires coach Bob Boughner, while supportive of the rule, felt the 10-fight limit was too low because it would prevent the NHL's future tough guys -- or, in other words, the one-dimensional player Campbell spoke of in the quote above -- an opportunity to "practice their craft.")

Whether the NHL develops a similar rule in the future it seems reasonable to think that the OHL's rule could still one day (very far down the line) have an impact on the professional game. As I argued in September, changes like this always start at the lower levels. As players start to play the game a certain way, why wouldn't it stick with them as they develop and move up the ranks?

If they start their career in a league that reduces the impact of fighting, it seems reasonable to think they wouldn't do it as much at higher levels. It wouldn't be an immediate impact, or even something you would see in the very near future, but down the line it very well could be. Especially if other junior leagues follow the OHL's lead and develop similar rules.

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