"The Code" 101

For the hardcore hockey fan, nothing separates those who "get it" from those who don't like a good fight.

Outsiders turn up their noses at the hockey fight, and deride the game as thuggery on ice.

There are true fans who also hate fighting. But the vast majority love it; and they love the etiquette of fights - "the code" as it's known. If you believe in the code, a fight isn't just a couple of goons pounding heads. It's all about pride, solidarity, even sportsmanship.

The code was in full force in Saturday's game between Phoenix and Montreal.

It started when Coyote Kurt Sauer flattened Canadien Andrei Kostitsyn with a big hit. Time for Montreal tough guy Georges Laraque to exact revenge:

"Whether it was cheap hit or not, when one of your best players gets knocked out like that, you're not going to say it's OK - you want to respond to it," said Laraque.

The Coyotes had no problem with it: "(T)hey want to defend their teammate and I understand that," explained captain Shane Doan.

So Laraque and Sauer square off? No. "He's a big guy, a tough guy. I'm not even in his league," said Sauer.

"Obviously, he's not going to go with me - he's not a heavyweight," Laraque said of Sauer, who has had 10 career fights to Laraque's 120. "I had to leave a message, but that's why a guy like Kostopoulos, who is more his size, responded."

That would be Tom Kostopoulos, the Montreal forward who danced with Sauer, as they say. Laraque found his partner in Coyotes' thumper Todd Fedoruk, who makes a living getting his lights punched out.

So the code prevails and everyone goes home happy. Everyone except Kostitsyn, who probably doesn't know what year it is, and Habs' coach Guy Carbonneau, who would like to see Sauer suspended.

But even Carbonneau stopped short of calling it a dirty hit, and he's obviously pleased to have Georges Laraque at his disposal: "He had 11:36 of ice time and had a fight and he created things - that's what we want."

For more on the code of the hockey fight, check out this post from Kukla's Korner or this piece from John Buccigross at ESPN.com.

The Code: The Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL, by Ross Bernstein, is on our list of Essential Hockey Books.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)