To fight or not to fight? Disagreement on Quebec Major Junior Hockey League ban

"I proved to my coach that I can score a goal. Now I have to prove to him that I can fight."

That's what was going through Dean Bergeron's head on Aug. 15, 1987, when he was 17.

The teenager was getting set to start his second season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The Cataractes de Shawinigan were holding its training camp and anybody could be cut.

During a scrimmage, Bergeron locked eyes with an opposing player.

"We looked at each other and we knew what we had to do, so we dropped the gloves," he told CBC News.

"It was the last time that I wore my skates and the last time that I could walk."

Bergeron shared his story following a vote from QMJHL owners.

They've agreed to add a new rule to its rulebook "which specifies black-and-white that fighting is forbidden in our league."

The ban is expected to take effect in June, ahead of the 2023-24 season — a good move, Bergeron says.

"As an adult, as owners, as coaches, as managers, we need to protect our young players," he said.

After that training camp fight nearly 36 years ago , Bergeron was taken to hospital and told his spinal cord had been severed.

"All the reality changed. I was not a hockey player anymore," he said.

"I was the poor guy that had an accident and that would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life."

Bergeron went on to become a renowned wheelchair racer - winning ten medals in all at the Paralympics, but hockey was his first love.

"After so many years, we now know the consequences of the fights," he said.

"Maybe not as bad as mine, finishing in a wheelchair, but I'm pretty sure that there are many players that went through this league that are still injured mentally or physically by these fights."

Blaine Hoshizaki spends his days in a