Penalty (ice hockey) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

Penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behaviour. A referee makes all penalty calls, however, a linesman may make major penalty calls.

During a penalty the player who committed the infraction is sent to the penalty box at the side of the rink. The penalized team cannot replace that player and is thus shorthanded for the duration of the penalty. Normally hockey is five-on-five so during a standard penalty the situation changes to a five-on-four.

This is called a power play for the attackers and a penalty kill for the defenders. A team is far more likely to score on a power play than during normal play and penalties are thus to be avoided. If the penalized team is scored on during a minor penalty then the penalty immediately comes to an end.

Many penalties, especially those for fighting are offsetting, i.e. both teams are punished for an equal length of time because players from both teams broke the rules. This leads to a four-on-four situation. If two players from the same team are penalized than a five-on-three occurs, which makes it even more likely to see a goal. Today there are no three-on-threes allowed, and if two players from each team a penalized a four-on-four is played.

When a goalie draws a penalty they do not go to the penalty box, but their penalty is served by another player for them. Bench minors for, penalties for such things as too many men on the ice, are also served by a player chosen by the coach.

Normally penalties last for two minutes, but some infractions that draw longer penalties. The listing is:

• Minor penalty: two minutes
• Double minor: four minutes
• Major penalty: five minutes
• Misconduct: ten minutes
• Game misconduct: player is expelled from the game

For especially egregious infractions a player will be suspended for a fixed number of games, and the player's salary for that period will be confiscated. These are not decided by the referee on the ice but rather by the NHL head office.

For infractions that are too minor to deserve a penalty such as icing, hand passes, and offsides, the team is penalized by a face-off closer to their end.

Another call is a penalty shot, which occurs when a player who had a clear breakaway was interfered with illegally.

Penalties are called by the referee and sometimes the linesmen. Calls are often controversial and mistakes are often made. Different games will often be called differently with harsher enforcement of the rules by some referees and laxer enforcement by others. It is commonly noted that elite players are far less often to be penalized than the lesser knowns.

When a penalty is called play is not stopped until the penalized team gains control of the puck. This is so as to allow taking a penalty to stop a rush by the other team. During delayed penalties the other teams goalie will often leave the ice to add an extra attacker, as it is impossible for the opposition to score.

The record for the most penalty minutes in one season is held by Dave Schultz of the Philadelphia Flyers with 472 in the 1974-75 season. The record for most penalty minutes in a career is held by Dave "Tiger" Williams who had 3966 over 14 years.

The most penalties in a single game occurred in a fight-filled match between the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers on March 5, 2004 when 419 penalty minutes were handed out.

List of penalties

This is a list of penalties used in the NHL. In other leagues there may be more or fewer penalties. Many social leagues ban all checking, for instance.

• Attempt to injure - deliberately trying to seriously harm another player
• Boarding - pushing a player violently into the boards on the side of the rink
• Charging - taking more than three strides before hitting an opponent
• Checking from behind - hitting an opponent from behind
• Cross checking - hitting an opponent with the stick when it is held with two hands
• Delay of game - deliberately stalling the game
• Elbowing - hitting a player with an elbow
• High sticking - hitting a player with a stick above shoulder level
• Holding - grabbing an player with one's hands or stick
• Hooking - using a stick as a hook to slow an opponent
• Interference - impeding a player who does not have the puck
• Roughing - pushing or throwing punches
• Slashing - swinging a stick at another player
• Spearing - stabbing another player with one's stick
• Tripping - using a stick or legs to trip an opponent
• Unsportsmanlike conduct - arguing with a referee, using slurs against an opponent or teammate

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