Over many years I’ve grown tired of all the fighting in professional hockey.

Therefore, I’ve lost interest in the game. I always have liked, though, the tradition that is unique to that sport: the handshake line.

It’s when opposing players line up to shake each other’s hands and, presumably, wish them well with a “Good game, eh?”

Then something else happened this week after a Montreal Canadiens-Boston Bruins game. Boston player Milan Lucic decided he hadn’t expressed his hard feelings sufficiently at the opposing team, so he took it out on them during the handshake at the end of the game.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/milan-lucic-dale-weise-handshake-line-exchange-words-game-7-disrespect-goal-celebrations-051514

Several of the Canadiens, who had eliminated the Bruins from the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 3-1 win, reported that Lucic threatened at least one of the players.

What a disgrace.

We’ve lost civility on so many levels in contemporary society: so many of our various art forms have become coarse and crass; certainly our politics has become far less congenial; professional sports is known for its show-offs, showboats, its trash-talkers and its violence (e.g., professional hockey).

Isn’t the time-honored pro hockey handshake line immune from this kind of behavior?

Obviously not.