There have been instances of teams a man down winning games (And even coming from behind to win after they went down a man), but generally, that's the point. Don't get a red card, especially early. This is not a hard thing to do if you aren't a complete fool. Right, but it ruins the whole game. I mean, can you imagine watching the Bulls in the 90's and after Rodman did something stupid that got him kicked out, the bulls had to play 4 on 5 the rest of the game? I know, the game isn't equivalent like that...but it just ruins the product. One guy out of 11 does something stupid, and the team is essentially doomed to lose (I understand there's exceptions.) Hockey plays a man short, but it's not for the whole game. If you want to punish the team for individual's misconduct, it's a better system, IMO. It still keeps the game interesting for the fans. What keeps the game interesting for the fans is players not being stupid and getting red cards. You're complaining about the symptom instead of the source of the problem. Where in hockey everyone knows they can take a run at anyone, anytime and not hurt the team, so they can send a 4th line goon to take out the opponent's best player for the game, and the worst that happens is his team plays a man down for 4-5 minutes and he gets suspended for 3 games he wouldn't play in anyway. In soccer, players know that if they even try to pull anything close to that, it ends their team's chances at the game.