Situations about Penalties (Section 400)        Picture of a whistle

Situation: Minor Penalties
Is there a general rule of thumb for determining which penalty, if any, expires as the result of a goal scored by the opposing team?

Response:  Yes. Rule reference 402 (c).

Guidelines:
1) When both teams are at EQUAL on-ice numerical strength (5-on-5, 4-on-4, 3-on-3), NO penalty can expire as the result of a goal.
2) The penalty that expires is the MINOR or BENCH MINOR penalty then being served with the least time remaining on the penalty clock.
3) A MAJOR penalty cannot expire as the result of a goal scored.
4) A DOUBLE MINOR penalty is always treated as two SEPARATE minor penalties (running consecutively), NOT one four-minute penalty.
5) Any time two minor penalties to different players of the same team expire at the same time, the Captain has her choice as to which player will return first.

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Situation: Minor Penalties
Team A is short-handed by one Minor penalty. With play in progress, the Referee signals another penalty on Team A. Before play is stopped, however, Team B scores. Which penalties, if any, are "washed out" (terminated) because of the goal?

Response:  See Rule references 402 (c) and Rule 409 (b). 
The signaled penalty is assessed but the penalty being served is terminated. One Minor penalty terminated is the maximum allowable for one goal scored.  The player whose penalty terminates may return to the ice immediately.

Remember that the Minor/Bench Minor penalty with the least amount of time remaining is the one which terminates as the result of a goal.  The signaled penalty (if a Minor/Bench Minor penalty) has two minutes remaining on it, while the Minor penalty already being served has less than two minutes remaining, and it is that penalty which will terminate.

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Situation: Minor Penalties
Player #11 on the White team receives a minor penalty and is sent to the penalty bench. Prior to the ensuing face-off, player #22 from the Red team receives a minor penalty. Are these minor penalties considered to be coincident?

Response:  Yes. See Rule Reference 402 (f). 
Coincident minor penalties occur any time that they are assessed during the same stoppage of play.

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Situation: Calling of Penalties
Team A commits an infraction in its Defending Zone. Before play can be stopped, the puck enters the Attacking Zone of Team A. When play is stopped in Team A's Attacking Zone, where is the ensuing face off?

Response:  See Rule References 409 (a) and 611 (f).
At the nearest Neutral Zone face-off spot.  In this situation, the ensuing face-off cannot be conducted in the Attacking Zone of a team that has just committed an infraction.

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Situation: Calling of Penalties
A face-off is about to be conducted in the Attacking Zone of Team A. Before the puck is dropped, a player of Team A receives a minor, major, or any other penalty. Where is the ensuing face-off?

Response:  At the nearest Neutral Zone face-off spot.  Rule References 409 (a) and 611 (f).
Whenever an infringement of a rule has been committed by a member of the attacking team in the Attacking Zone, the ensuing face-off shall be taken to the nearest Neutral Zone face-off spot.

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Situation: Minor Penalties
Team A is short-handed by one Minor penalty. With play in progress, the Referee signals another penalty on Team A. Before play is stopped, however, Team B scores. Which penalties, if any, are "washed out" (terminated) because of the goal?

Response:  See Rule references Rule 409 (b) and 402 (c). 
The signaled penalty is assessed but the penalty being served is terminated. One Minor penalty terminated is the maximum allowable for one goal scored.  The player whose penalty terminates may return to the ice immediately.

Remember that the Minor/Bench Minor penalty with the least amount of time remaining is the one which terminates as the result of a goal.  The signaled penalty (if a Minor/Bench Minor penalty) has two minutes remaining on it, while the Minor penalty already being served has less than two minutes remaining, and it is that penalty which will terminate.

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Situation: Calling of Penalties
Can a player against whom a delayed penalty is signaled be credited with the scoring of a goal?

Response: Yes. Rule References 409 (c) and 614 (b).
Whenever a player of the non-offending team shoots the puck shoots the puck into her own goal without any action from the offending team, and the player to be assessed the penalty was the last player on the offending team to touch the puck, she shall be credited with the goal.

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This page was last modified:
August 2, 2004