Great post and perspective as always.
You bring up a good question: Is there a scale that officials follow for Unsportsmanlike penalties? In the case you mentioned you didn't penalize Stevens team other than his not being on the ice. Other times I have seen officials give the player a minor meaning his team will now be down a man.
It almost seems like there are Unsportsmanlike Penalties that are clearly awarded to a player as to not effect the team and there are times that it is a message to the team....would that be close?
- wbon22
Best way I can answer this is that a variety of discretionary factors -- game situation, the player's actual offending actions, etc - that get considered in whether to tack on an extra two (which places the team shorthanded or extends it) or a misconduct (removed player for longer but no change in manpower).
