Fighting in the NHL

Well according to stories written recently Canadians are now against fighting in the NHL. This is absolutely shocking to me.

Fighting not sacred in NHLPA ranks
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jim_kelley/01/29/players.fighting/
The latest report from a public opinion poll in Canada, the guardian state of hockey, is that by the slimmest of margins the public would prefer its hockey without fighting.

Public wants NHL to knock out fighting
http://www.thestar.com/article/578326
A new public opinion poll by Harris-Decima finds that while the vast majority of hockey fans – 68 per cent – still want fighting in the game, Canadians, overall, do not.
A survey of more than 1,000 people across the country conducted during the NHL all-star weekend in Montreal found 54 per cent want fighting tossed from the league. That's up slightly from 2007.
Only 40 per cent want to keep it. The remaining 6 per cent either didn't answer or had no opinion.

Why this change? Is it because the the other day NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, much derided by many hockey fans and some hockey journalists, said he nor the League is willing to ban fighting?

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: No appetite to abolish fighting
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?p=4271275
"We're not going to have any immediate knee-jerk reactions," he said. "We're going to have to study things before we make changes, if we decide to make changes. I don't think that there's any appetite to abolish fighting from the game, and there are lots of reasons for that, including the fact that it's been a part of the game."

Many NHL fans seem to line-up against Bettman, just to do so. Maybe the ones stating they're against fighting are just being contrary?

Admittedly I came late to liking NHL hockey, about 15 years after the Miracle on Ice. I shunned NHL hockey because of my anti-fighting stance in the sport. I thought fighting stupid. There are various reasons why I changed my mind.
Still, fighting doesn't interest me much, even though I understand it's part of the game. Many fans rhetorically ask, "How many people leave when there's a fight?" I'm like, "Me! I do." It's a chance to get another beer without missing the real action. I'd rather watch tape-to-tape passes, odd-man rushes, board crashing or open-ice checks, and beautiful goals. I can't persuade others to accept fighting, but I can deal with it, and I agree with Jarome Iginla.

Hockey fighting is back in the ring
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=510651
MONTREAL (AP) -- Jarome Iginla didn't pull any punches when the topic of fighting came up. The Calgary Flames captain said the one-on-one on-ice combat is a necessary part of hockey, and eliminating it would cause more dangerous situations.
"It's a very physical and a very intense game. There would be more stickwork, absolutely," Iginla said Saturday after an All-Star practice. "I think it does help police (the game). You're a lot more responsible for what you're doing out there as far as dirty hits and stickwork and stuff.
"If you know that fighting is there, that there is that threat of it, you have to back up what you're doing."