I don't know much about hockey, never played it even but I can't help thinking that some of the gloves off is staged to make it exciting to watch.

When American Wrestling started to show on British TV years ago, my eldest son who must have been about 6 at the time was absolutely convinced it was real. He definitely thought it was possible that they could do things to each other including hitting each other with a chair and not bleed, or pass out, not even limp

A bit of choreography goes a long way.