Situation: Skates
May a "player" (non-goalkeeper) wear goalkeeper's skates during play?

Response:  No.  Rule References 302 (a & b).
Goalkeeper's skates are especially designed for goalkeeper's play, thus are unsuitable for normal play. 

Situation: Protective Equipment
A player (not goalkeeper) loses her helmet and/or face mask during play. What options does she have?

Response:  See Rule Reference 304 (a).
In Adult hockey (male and female), the player must replace the lost equipment before becoming further involved in the play or skate to the players' bench immediately. The intent of this rule is to prevent the player from participating in the play while her head and facial areas are unprotected.
NOTE: Play is stopped immediately if a goalkeeper loses her helmet and/or face mask.

Situation: Protective Equipment (Mouth Guards)
As often happens in the summer season, NCWHL currently has a few players who are teenagers. Please be aware that USA Hockey MANDATES that all females aged 11-19 wear a mouthpiece.

Here is the USA Hockey reference, Rule 304 (c):
"All players, including goalkeepers... in the Girls/Women 10-or-under through 19-or-under age classifications are required to wear a colored (non-clear) internal mouthpiece that covers all the remaining teeth of one jaw, customarily the upper. For a violation of this rule a [10 minute] misconduct penalty shall be imposed."

League Coordinators & Team Captains:
Please make sure that teenaged players are aware of this requirement, and that they wear a mouthpiece for all games and practices.

Referees:
If a teenaged player does not have a mouthpiece, she may not participate in the game until she obtains one. If she has one, but fails to wear it during play, please first issue her a warning. If, after the warning, the player does not wear her mouthpiece during the game, assess a 10 minute misconduct to the offending player. Having served a misconduct, the offending player may NOT participate in play until she properly wears her mouthpiece. A Game Misconduct penalty shall be assessed for a subsequent violation by the same player or goalkeeper in the same game.

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