Scott Parker did not participate in the class-action lawsuit filed last week in which 10 former NHL players claimed the league hid information that would have prevented their ongoing head trauma symptoms.

“I knew there were risks associated with what I did,” said Parker, the former Avalanche enforcer who at age 35 is dealing with symptoms consistent with those of brain-injured victims.

Parker’s view is both emblematic of the tough guy mentality that envelops hockey and of the fierce grip fighting holds on the sport.

At its essence, hockey is all about toughness. Fighting has long been viewed as the sport’s biggest deterrent of cheap shots. But the mere act of allowing fights is also why many sports fans view hockey as a niche sport, one that will never become mainstream because of its sometimes barbaric nature.

The NHL, much like the NFL, has instituted several safety measures in an effort to curb head injuries. But it has made no head-on effort to ban fighting, in large part because fans, and players, consider it to be as essential to the game’s fabric as the power play.

“It won’t be hockey anymore, and more guys will get hurt,” Parker said of a possible ban.

The courts might ultimately have the biggest say if bare-knuckle fighting continues. The lawsuit filed last week seeks damages to be determined at trial, and the players are seeking court-approved medical monitoring for the brain trauma they blame on their NHL careers.

“This is a classic corporate strategy of profits over people,” said attorney Joe Cammarata, who works on behalf of injured athletes but is not involved in the lawsuit. “If you look at the NHL lawsuit and NHL, it’s a big business. In the NFL, they said the science wasn’t really there. In the NHL, it’s, ‘We’ll form a committee to study,’ and they come up with a cockamamie answer 10 years later.

“Meanwhile, it’s ‘Keep the games coming, keep the fans coming in.’ That’s what it’s all about.”

While Parker defends fighting, he does not grant blanket immunity to all who had authority over his career. His testimony is exactly what the NHL might fear most, someone who said he knew the risks, but watched coaches turn a blind eye to the potential damage.

In his heyday, the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Parker was “The Sheriff,” best known for settling disputes on the ice. Despite his commanding physical presence, Parker said he was subject to bullying by coaches who threatened his roster spot if he ever stopped sacrificing his body. His most harsh criticism is directed at former Avs coach Bob Hartley.

“He was a junior B goalie trying to tell me how to fight. He was always just degrading me. Not to be a (wimp), but he was a bully,” Parker said. “And he could be because he was in a position of authority. What was I supposed to do as a rookie? Go tell him ‘(expletive) you’? I did that stuff at the end of my career, but at the beginning of my career I was just a chess piece to him.”

Bullying tactics

Parker, who estimates he suffered 20 to 25 concussions, said there were several times when he was so banged up he told Hartley he needed a night off, or at least a game off from being asked to fight.

“He would call me a (expletive), say that Hershey (the Avs’ former minor-league affiliate) would be my next stop, where I’d be ‘smelling chocolate fumes all day long.’ I remember I thought I had a broken foot and told him about it, and he called me a (expletive) and said Hershey would love me,” Parker said. “Nobody needed to question my commitment to doing my job. But I was just constantly belittled by Bob Hartley. I really have no respect for the man.”

Hartley, now coach of the Calgary Flames, declined to comment when informed of Parker’s remarks.

The pressure Parker describes might not be as prevalent in today’s NHL, as fewer teams employ a self-described “enforcer,” but it still exists.

“If you’re hurt, it doesn’t matter. You’re made to think ‘I have to fight, or I’ll lose my job,’ ” Parker said.

What the NHL knew about the effects of brain damage on its warriors, such as Parker, and what it did to prevent it could take years to sort through in a courtroom.

Commissioner Gary Bettman consistently has supported the idea of fighting as necessary to control the violence of a fast-paced, hard-hitting sport.

“You have a game that’s very physical, very fast, very emotional, very ‘edgity,’ and it’s played in a confined space,” Bettman said in a recent interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “Every now and then there needs to be an outlet to keep the temperature from worse things happening (on the ice).”

The NHL keeps adding rules to minimize fighting and protect players. Leaving the bench to join an altercation now carries an automatic 10-game suspension. So-called “staged” fights between heavyweight enforcers are rare. Beginning this season, a minor penalty is assessed to a player taking off his helmet to fight. In addition, every incoming player or those with 25 or fewer games in the league must now wear a visor, with veterans being grandfathered in and having a choice to wear the upper-face protection.

Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman said he believes the infusion of new rules will reduce fighting, but he does not believe it’ll ever be eliminated.

“You worry about these rats that might go around chopping everybody’s ankles and thinking they could get away with it,” Bowman said. “Most of my teams were really good and had trouble having just a pure enforcer make the roster. But we still had some. You have to be able to respond. If a team feels like it can intimidate you in any way, they have an advantage and they’ll use it.”

No rule prevented the opening-night fight in October between the Montreal Canadiens’ George Parros and Colton Orr of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The heavyweight enforcers fought until Parros lost his footing, hit his head on the ice and suffered a concussion. Parros’ helmet was ripped off his head by Orr, now a common move to get around the new helmet rule. (Players unbuckle their chin straps and allow the opponent to slide the helmet off their head.)

Fighting is popular

For all the talk of phasing out fighting, the NHL isn’t about to turn its back on its fans or its players. Overwhelmingly, hockey fans love fighting, and players believe it’s necessary.

In a survey on Twitter last week, the first 50 respondents who were asked if fighting should be banned answered no.

NHL players have much the same view. In a 2011 NHL Players’ Association/CBC poll, 98 percent of players were against abolishing fighting.

“We’re the only sport where fighting is allowed and you feel like it’s part of the game,” Chicago forward Bryan Bickell said. “The people running the teams want it, players want it, the fans want it, and the bottom line is it prevents players from running around looking to hurt guys and holds them accountable for their actions.

“There are going to be times where people are going to be hurt. But it’s the nature of the game.”

What about fans hockey might hope to attract by not allowing fighting?

“Who cares?” Bickell said. “Let those people be.”

In the end, it might take societal change to end fighting.

Former NHL defenseman Brian Engblom, a national television analyst who works many Avalanche games, sees a day when fighting will no longer be accepted.

“(We’re) gradually getting there,” Engblom said. “We used to say, the sticks are the real dangers — cross-checking, stabbing, spearing — and nobody gets hurt in a fight, other than a broken nose or bloodied lip or what have you. We didn’t know much about concussions. But we didn’t have the 6-foot-6, 6-9 guys that are 260 pounds and in superior condition back then. Guys do get hurt nowadays, and they get hurt really badly.”

As for players such as Parker who said they knew the risks of fighting, Cammarata said: “They understood that they could get hurt, but they didn’t know about the repetitive effects. This (lawsuit) will come to ‘What did (the NHL) know and when did they know it?’ Team doctors are supposed to not trust what their (players’) answer is when you ask them if they are hurt and can play. They always want to play. These guys are warriors. Doctors have a greater duty to protect them from themselves.”

Dr. James Kelly convinced Parker to retire and not risk further damage to his brain. He continues to work with Parker and is a close friend. And he believes fighting leads to severe brain trauma.

“Fighting should be discouraged at all costs,” Kelly said. “I’ve never made any headway with Scott in that regard. He’s a terrific guy, but we certainly disagree there.”

Sports change with the times, and hockey will too, Engblom said.

“It’s a really fine line. If somebody spears you or deliberately two-handed chops you, you turn around and almost punch him out of reaction,” he said. “Then there’s a guy coming to defense of a guy who can’t protect himself. That’s the premise, the idea about fighting and how players police themselves, and how it did work in many ways.

“But modern society doesn’t allow it. People are really put off by it. Most people don’t want to see it and have their kids involved.”

Just don’t tell that to the NHL.

Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mikechambers; adater@denverpost.com or twitter.com/adater

Prominent pugilists

Trying to name the all-time greatest NHL fighters is difficult. While it would seem logical that the biggest were the best, that’s not always the case. Here are NHL reporter Adrian Dater’s top five:

1. Bob Probert , 1985-2002

He died way too soon, in 2010, but he probably was the most feared and respected fighter ever to play in the NHL. His brain was donated to the Sports Legacy Institute by his family, and evidence of chronic-traumatic encephalopathy was found.

2. Tony Twist, 1989-99

“The Twister” was nobody to mess with. He hurt opponents in fights, which is why he had few “dance partners” in his later years.

3. Dave Schultz, 1971-80

Famous for being the enforcer on the “Broad Street Bullies” Stanley Cup teams of the 1970s, Schultz’s nickname was “The Hammer.”

4. John Ferguson, 1963-71

One of the NHL’s first enforcers, he could also play the game. He was a key member of several Montreal Stanley Cup teams.

5. Dave “Tiger” Williams, 1974-88

Still the NHL’s all-time leader in penalty minutes (3,966). He took on all comers.