Pat Kaleta likes to hit people. Most people don’t like how Pat Kaleta hits. Unfortunately for most people, Pat Kaleta likes to hit as allowed within the rules of the game. Due to this inconvenient problem, Pat Kaleta is regarded as a dirty player.

Since you can’t get suspended for legal hits, Pat hasn’t been suspended before in his NHL career. During yesterday’s game, “legal” couldn’t describe his hit on Philadelphia’s Jared Ross. NHL warden Colin Campbell and company have decided that the five minutes for boarding and game misconduct weren’t enough, as Kaleta has been given a seat in the press box for two games by the NHL.

The Buffalo Sabres will be without Patrick Kaleta for two games after the forward was suspended by the NHL on Saturday.

Kaleta took a major boarding penalty and a game misconduct in the first period of Friday’s game against the Flyers when he hit Philadelphia centre Jared Ross. Ross left the game and did not return.

It was bound to happen eventually. Kaleta has skillfully toed the line that divides legal and dirty. It was clearly reactionary, based on the injury suffered by Ross. And it was clearly decided by the fact that Kaleta isn’t a star. After being a victim of the same type of hit on Wednesday, courtesy of Caps superstar Alexander Ovechkin, Kaleta gets the same penalty for the same hit two days later. But since Kaleta isn’t on the cover of a video game, Kaleta is told to watch with the sportswriters.

Compare the two hits:

Apparently, the difference is two games.

I’m sure there is a better explanation as to why they thought Kaleta was worth suspending… such as the giant wheel they spin after each player hearing landed on “2″ instead of one of the numerous spots with a “0″ on it.