The 106th in our 118-part series.
Penalties
In every other sport a team it seems breaking the rules just means you give up a freebie to your opponent — free yardage, free kicks, free throws, etc. Sure, in basketball you will eventually get tossed out, but for the most part committing a foul just means you’ve handed a bit of a gift to the other guys, but everyone pretty much just keeps on doing what they were doing. But not so in hockey. Hockey’s got penalties, where the offending player is forced to sit off to the side, sweating out the two, four or five minutes he’s left his team short-handed. It’s an actual punishment, befitting a sport that correctly bills itself as the toughest, ruggedest, manliest sport there is.
