The Kale Kessy/Derek Sheppard Fight and the Future of Fighting in Hockey

HERSHEY, PA - Full disclosure, I’m a fan of hockey fights like mostly everyone else.

Whether it’s two heavy-weights throwing equipment down, someone sticking up for a teammate, or a pair of goalies joining a line brawl (sidebar story - Pheonix Copley and Jordan Binnington once dropped the gloves at Giant Center. As I’m sitting alone in the media room, they walk in post-shower. Both got a huge laugh out of me meekly asking if they were ok to be in there together - they were friends and Binnington did Cops a solid engaging, by the way), hockey fights have long been used as a catalyst for energizing a team. And I was a fan...until last Tuesday night.

Sitting in the pressbox during the second period of Tuesday night’s game between the Charlotte Checkers and the Hershey Bears, working on editing photos from the first period, the Bears scored a goal. Both Matt Trust and I tweeted out that we thought it was Liam O’Brien’s and then started discussing. He thought it would be Shane Gersich’s (it eventually was) and I stuck by O’Brien. In fact I started typing out a tweet I would never send when I noticed gloves and helmets being tossed to the ice.

Picking up my phone to record, like always, I captured a video that I will never share publicly in its entirety. It was your normal, run-of-the-mill heavyweight fight between Hershey’s Kale Kessy and Charlotte’s Derek Sheppard - until it wasn't.

Sheppard knew in an instant that something wasn’t right and tried to prevent Kessy from hitting the ice, but that sound will never leave my mind.

I’ve heard it once before, when as a five-year-old, I fell on the ice and cracked my head. They say things are always louder when you are part of them. I’m relatively sure the sell-out crowd at Giant Center will politely disagree because it sounded pretty loud from the 5th floor. If you’ve never heard 10,000+ totally silent either, let me be the first to tell you, it’s eerie - from cheering to a collective gasp to silence, all in a matter of seconds.

Immediately, Sheppard began frantically signaling to the benches for help and linesman Bob Goodman, who himself was injured this season not so far from where Kessy lay unmoving, jumped into action. Goodman, who works at a local hospital as an anaesthesiologist, is often referred to as Doc Goodman around the arena. Within seconds, Goodman was shedding his helmet and providing medical attention to Kessy. He remained at Kessy’s head until the forward was stretchered off the ice. At that point, he skated right over to Spencer Carbery and gave Hershey’s bench an update. No doubt his reaction and the lightning-fast response by the trainers and medical personnel prevented this situation from becoming worse. I’ve never seen that many people rush onto the ice that fast, and frankly, never care to again.

“He walked us through what happened, all of the things that they did on the ice. He’s a medical professional, so it was very informative. And then we went back into the rooms and just tried to figure out where we go from there,” Carbery said.

In the minutes following, as we are all trying hard to process what we had just witnessed, the coaches and officials tried to figure out what to do next. Standing in the back hallway, with various other hockey personnel and media was another experience I don’t care to ever repeat; you could feel the concern for Kessy. Poor Matt Trust tells me that Kessy was alert before leaving Giant Center and I hug him - right outside the media room.

Relief that he would be okay was at war with the scene everyone had witnessed, and that was evident on the faces of the coaches and officials as they discussed options. Given all of the options and after hearing that Kessy was conscious and answering questions as he was taken off the ice, the Bears and Checkers returned to the ice. I have no idea how they did it, but in doing so, the healing process for everyone began. Probably a lot of it had to do with Kessy himself, who according to Carbery told the team to, “Go win the game.” And they did by a score of 6-1.

After the game ended, the questions began anew. What, if anything, would the league do about fighting?

For years, hockey has been trying to cut back on fights, and they’ve been markedly successful, but there are still gritty, tough-nosed guys like Kessy who are enforcers, making sure nobody steps over the line. Kessy, who post-game once told me, “I’m not afraid of Kurtis Gabriel; I’ll tell you that for free” in a tone that took me aback. We used that quote to promote an article I wrote. I’d have a hard time telling Kale Kessy he could never fight again, but many people believe that by forcing guys to keep their helmets on would make things a lot safer. In Kessy’s case, that hit likely would not have knocked him out; the helmet would have protected him more as it would when he hit the ice.

Hindsight is a funny thing. So is fate.

Nobody showed up for work Tuesday night thinking this would happen. As a reporter and fan, I’ve been to more hockey games than I can count. Never have I witnessed something so “normal” turn into something so horrifically shocking.

Instinct takes over, truly.

Goodman and the medical team - instinct.

Sheppard’s immediate reaction - instinct.

There were so many people last night who had a job to do, and every single one of them did just that. Just like those in Tuscon did when Craig Cunningham collapsed, just like those in Texas did when Rob Davies suffered a medical incident, just like those in St. Louis did when Jay Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench, just like those in Niagara after Tucker Tynan was severely cut by a skate blade. The list goes on and on. In every instance, there were medical personnel reacting. You don’t see them usually, but when they’re needed, they’re there and they are amazing!

Tuesday night was not the time nor the place to start asking questions about how we could prevent this scene from playing out again.

In truth, I’m not sure when is the right time, but I hope it is before something like this happens again. And while fans of hockey fights probably won’t get behind anything more “taking away” from fights, I’m relatively sure it will be discussed. Perhaps rule 46.6 (unsportsmanlike conduct - removing helmet) needs to come with a stiffer penalty than 2:00. I’d go along with just about anything to unsee what I saw last night - Kessy going down, the utter devastation on Sheppard’s face, the amount of equipment brought onto the ice by players and personnel alike, to unhear what I heard, to not remember that sickening feeling in my stomach. I’m pretty sure everyone else at Giant Center last night would too. Just as I am sure the league will try to do what is in the best interest of the players in response to this and other situations.