As you know, fighting is totally and completely illegal in professional hockey, which is it’s restricted through strict punishments from on-ice officials.

[Giant, exaggerated wink to the audience]

But in all honesty, some fights are punished more strictly than others. Sometimes due to their timing. And, apparently, sometimes due to their location.

In an ECHL game between the Utah Grizzlies at the Colorado Eagles on Dec. 23, Teigan Zahn of the Eagles and Alexandre Carrier of the Grizzlies had a lengthy fight that got the fans going. Carrier was in the penalty box already when teammate Jon Puskar – a 27-year-old minor league pest supreme – was sent to the Grizzlies box for cross-checking.

As you can see from this clip around the 1:20 mark, Puskar had the penalty box open and was yapping at Eagles defenseman Michael Sdao. He apparently mashed the right button with his taunting, because Sdao went nutso and started fighting him INSIDE THE DAMN PENALTY BOX:

Carrier, who had taken part in that marathon fight earlier, collared Sdao until the officials arrived as Puskar was sent to the penalty box floor. Debris from the crowd was tossed at the referee, which is completely outrageous as it obviously should have been directed at the penalty box door operator.

Sdao was given a fighting major and a game misconduct for “fighting off the playing surface.”

He was suspended three games by the ECHL and fined an undisclosed amount for violating the sanctity of the sin bin.

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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