It depends. In men's Ice Hockey you are allowed to hit people. In woman's ice hockey you can get a 2 minute minor penalty for body checking.
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In Field Hockey and ice hockey, hitting is entirely permitted. In indoor hockey, it is explicitly not permitted (due to the dangers and unnecessity of it).
Because otehrwise there is no incentive to obey the rules, and there is no means for a disadvantaged team to regain the loss in play.