Ice hockey is a team sport that has existed for just over a century now, and has gathered a large global presence. According to the International Ice Hockey Federation, in 2016 there were over 1.5 million Ice Hockey players registered globally (Grill 2016). Historically the sport has been rather exclusive and criticized for the forms of hegemonic masculinity that exist within it. This can be connected to extreme physicality within the sport, most notably being fist fights that occur in the middle of games. This research aims to measure the impact of gender norms on the public opinion of fighting and violence in hockey.

The independent variable of this study was gender norms; ideas about how men and women should be and act within society. While these seem to change within different generations, there are many that seem to have remained consistent. In this research the main focus was on gender norms among men, this is mostly because masculine gender norms are ubiquitous in ice hockey. Masculine norms of toughness, dominance and aggression are extremely evident both on and off the ice within this sport. The dependent variable of this research was the public opinion of fighting. This was analyzed through comments on Youtube videos of hockey fights, identifying themes and common language use throughout these comments. Doing this gives a provides a coprehensive understanding of masculine gender norms in hockey, and determines whether these are expressed and reinforced throughout society.