Hockey 101: Penalty box

HOCKEY 101: PENALTY BOX

DEFINITIONS OF ICE HOCKEY PENALTIES:

MAJOR PENALTY: Type of individual penalty called for more serious infractions of the rules; of 5 minutes in duration whether or not the non-penalized team scores.
MINOR PENALTY: Type of penalty lasting 2 minutes; if the non-penalized team scores a power play goal during this time, the penalty ends immediately.
BOARDING OR BOARD-CHECKING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player uses any method (body checking, elbowing or tripping) to throw an opponent violently into the boards; if an injury is caused, it becomes a major penalty.
BUTT-ENDING: Major penalty which occurs when a player jabs an opponent with the shaft of his hockey stick.
CHARGING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player makes a deliberate move of more than two steps when body checking an opponent; if serious injury is caused or blood is drawn it becomes a major penalty.
CROSS-CHECKING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player holds his stick in both hands and drives the shaft into an opponent; a stick check where a player has both hands on the stick and no part of the stick on the ice; if serious injury is caused or blood is drawn it becomes a major penalty and a game misconduct.
DELAY OF GAME: Minor penalty imposed on any player who purposely delays the game in any way, such as shooting or batting the puck outside the playing area or displacing the goalpost from its normal position.
ELBOWING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player strikes his opponent with an elbow to impede his progress.
FIGHTING: major penalty which occurs when two or more players drop their sticks and gloves and fight; if a referee deems one player to be the instigator, that player also receives a minor penalty and a misconduct penalty; the minor penalty for a less severe pushing and shoving match is called roughing.
GAME MISCONDUCT: Penalty that suspends a player for the remainder of a game (but allows the team to send in a substitute for the suspended player); penalty is usually issued for improper behavior or abusive language (as toward an official).
HIGH-STICKING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player carries his stick above the normal height of his opponent’s shoulders and hits or menaces the opponent with it; if injury is caused it becomes a major penalty; if a referee determines that the raising of the stick was unintentional and no contact occurred, it is considered a team infraction, and a face-off is held in the offender’s defensive zone.
HOLDING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player grabs and holds onto an opponent (or his stick) with his hands or arms to impede the opponent’s progress.
HOOKING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player attempts to impede the progress of another player by hooking any part of the opponent’s body with the blade of his stick; an illegal use of one’s stick.
INTERFERENCE: Minor penalty called when a player attempts to impede the motion of another player not in possession of the puck.
KNEEING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player uses a knee to hit his opponent in the leg, thigh or lower body.
ROUGHING: Minor penalty which occurs when a fight between players is more of a pushing and shoving match; a less severe penalty than fighting.
SLASHING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player swings his stick hard at an opponent, whether or not contact is made; if injury is caused it becomes a major penalty and a game misconduct.
SPEARING: Major penalty which occurs when a player illegally jabs, or even just attempts to jab, the point of his stick blade into another player’s body; one of the most serious infractions a player can commit; results in an automatic game misconduct.
THIRD-MAN-IN RULE: The third man in a fight gets a game misconduct penalty and is out of the game for its duration; created to discourage players from jumping into a fight, even if they are only trying to break it up.
TRIPPING: Minor penalty which occurs when a player places his stick or a part of his body under or around the feet or legs of an opponent causing him to lose his balance; will also be called if a player kicks an opponent’s skates out from under him, or uses a knee or leg to cause his opponent to fall.
DOUBLE MINOR: Type of minor penalty given for certain accidental infractions that result in an injury to another player or for certain deliberate attempts to injure an opponent that are unsuccessful; penalty time of 4 minutes is served, double the time of a normal minor penalty.