What is a cross-checking penalty in hockey?

Penalties are a major part of every single major sport, whether it’s hockey, football, basketball, etc. Sometimes, the penalty in question happened by accident; sometimes on purpose. Either way, A penalty is a penalty whether you meant to commit it or not. A prime example is a cross-checking penalty in hockey.

Today, we’ll cover what exactly is a cross-checking penalty.

A cross-check is when a player grips onto their own stick with both hands and shoves it at an opponent with force. The stick must be off of the ice. Without actually seeing it take place, I’m sure that you would be able to understand the severity of this penalty. Despite having padding while playing hockey, getting a stick to any part of the body is surely going to hurt.

Oftentimes, a two-minute penalty is issued to the guilty player, but if the cross-check is deemed dangerous enough, it could result in a game misconduct/ejection and perhaps even a fine.

A player can be fined up to $5,000 for a cross-checking penalty. This determination is made from the league itself. If a player has a hearing regarding the penalty, it can be ruled that he be fined even more than $5,000.

Last season, Colorado Avalanche forward Ross Colton was assessed at 5-minute game misconduct for a cross-checking penalty against the New Jersey Devils. You can see the video of the penalty here.

As you can see and imagine, a play like this can definitely cause injury. It’s a violent act in the world of hockey and you just can’t play like that anymore. Rules have certainly changed over the last 15-plus years. Knowing what they know now about concussions and other types of major injuries, it makes perfect sense that the league is cracking down on these sorts of penalties.

In 82 games, there were a total of two suspensions due to cross-checking and four fines for committing the penalty. (Source in the link above). Colton’s was the only one of the four fines that resulted in a fine punishment of $5k.