Five for Fighting

Hockey and it's penalty system is in a way a condensed version of our criminal justice system. You commit a crime, or in hockey a Penalty, and you have to serve time for your offense. Time in the penalty box (or prison cell), all by yourself to think of your offense and reform yourself as you watch your teammates (family and friends), play on without you. These penalties also can vary in length just like real life crimes. Small infractions like tripping, hooking, or delay of game (tossing the puck over the sideboard glass) can get you two minutes penalty time in the box. More serious offenses like drawing blood while high sticking or cross-checking can get you a double minor penalty with up to four minutes in your cell. But fighting, one of the highest penalties in hockey, can get you five minutes in the box, and if you started the fight, you can sometimes be ejected for the rest of the game.

If you compare these penalties with the various crimes and punishments, you could see the minor penalties could

be like petty theft or other small crimes that wouldn't merit much jail time. A step up would be crimes of a medium

nature like assault and battery and such. But the equivalent to the five for fighting and instigation would be murder,

attempted murder, manslaughter and other serious crimes. And penalty minutes do not always end up the only punishment.

If a player's actions are so heinous, the league office will suspend a player for whole games, depending on the offense.

An example of a heinous offense would be that done by Todd Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi was suspended for the rest of the season

after attacking an opposing player from behind, putting him in the hospital.

Other sports may have penalties, but only hockey seems to directly mirror our criminal justice system.