On-Ice Communication

Rule set: Written to NHL rules. Where IIHF, USA Hockey or typical rec-league rules differ in a way that changes how you play, it is flagged inline. This document is almost entirely about convention rather than rules — there is no rule anywhere in hockey that governs what you may shout, and the few rules that touch communication are noted where they apply. Playing in Britain? The IIHF flags are yours — every level of UK hockey runs the IIHF book, amended locally; see UK and England Rules.

Key focus

"Man on" and "time" are the two highest-value words in hockey, and both are usually unsaid. "Man on": an opponent you cannot see is closing — protect the puck and move it. "Time": nobody is near — lift your head and make the good play. ⚠️ At the wall, called or not, never turn your back to anyone coming at you, after the puck or not, and never duck — head up, chin off your chest.

Whoever can see the play makes the call — early, short and loud. A call before the puck arrives lets the receiver plan; one as it lands just startles them. Use names: "Sam, man on". In your own end the goalie sees most; on a breakout the defencemen call "up", "over", "reverse" and "wheel" to the retriever.

In your own end, call the coverage and answer every call. Shout "back door" the moment an opponent is alone at the far post. When two attackers cross, follow your man or trade on a called, answered "switch" — never half of each. In a zone defence the crossing trades marks for you. Ask what your team plays.

Never say "time" unless you are sure, and if you call for the puck, be there. A false "time" sends a teammate into a hit unbraced. Pressure is the other way round: shout "man on" early, even if you are not certain.

Agree your team's calls and drill them. There is no official hockey vocabulary, and a call the receiver has to translate is worse than silence. Do not assume your calls travel when you change teams or countries.

Never call the puck across the front of your own net. An "over" or "D-to-D" through the slot is a point-blank chance if it is intercepted. Behind the goal line is the usual route — ask which one your team uses.

Overview

The player with the puck is the least informed player on the ice. An opponent closing from behind is the one thing they cannot see, and everyone else can. A call turns that blind decision into an informed one, and it costs nothing.

"Man on" and "time" carry most of that value. A player who fears pressure that is not there throws the puck away as surely as one who never saw it coming — though a "time" you are not sure of is worse than none. And because "man on" is shouted at a player near the wall, it carries the posture that protects the neck, called or not: never your back to anyone coming at you, head up, never duck.

The duty to speak belongs to whoever can see — not the captain. It is heaviest in your own end, where a lost puck or a lost man becomes a goal, and a call only works if the teammate answers it. Calls vary by team, so the words you pick matter far less than everybody decoding them instantly.

A note on variation — read this before you learn the list

Convention: There is no official hockey vocabulary — calls vary by team, region, level and coach
Action: Agree your list as a team at the start of the season and drill it in practice
Key: A call only works if the receiver decodes it in under half a second
Risk: A call the receiver has to translate is worse than silence — it costs them a beat
Read: The call list here is the North American vocabulary, and at the top level the shouted words appear to be English whatever the nationality
Never: Assume your calls travel when you move between hockey cultures. Ask instead
Convention: Some calls in this document are widely used but undocumented as spoken calls — no published coaching source records them as something you shout, and each one says so where it is taught

Calls vary by team, region, level and coach. Two things follow.

First, agree your list as a team. A call works only if the receiver decodes it in under half a second. If they have to translate, silence would have been better, because silence doesn't cost them a beat. Set the calls at the start of the season and drill them, or you get five private languages.

Second, expect regional differences. The vocabulary here is North American, which dominates English-language coaching and is what you meet in the NHL, most of Canada and the United States, and English-speaking rec hockey. European leagues use their own languages, and coaching terms differ — Sweden forward Gustav Nyquist, on returning to a Swedish national-team staff: "it's different words you use, kind of ... different terminology, I guess, for the same thing."

But on-ice calls may be the exception. Asked at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off whether his players would use Swedish to hide instructions, Sweden coach Sam Hallam said the opposite: "They're going to scream and yell to each other in English. 'Over! Over!' 'Here! Here!' 'Open! Open!' 'Stretch!' Whatever. Just because that's what they're doing in games over here." So at the top level the shouted words appear to be English. No published source compares North American and European club calls word by word, so treat this as open: if you move between hockey cultures, do not assume your calls travel. Ask.

Some calls below are in common use but undocumented as spoken calls — no published coaching source records them as something you shout. Each is flagged with a dagger where it is taught. Some — outlet, net front, sag, collapse, odd man — are well documented as terms; only their use as a shout is unverified. Check them against your own team's words.

Why verbal communication wins games

Key: The puck carrier is the least informed player on the ice — the forechecker closing from behind is where they cannot look
Action: Say what you can see; the information costs you nothing and is useless sitting in your eyes
Goal: Turn a blind decision into an informed one — a guess in the defensive zone is how goals get scored
Priority: Call before the puck arrives — the same call as it arrives just startles the receiver
Mindset: The loudest team usually looks like the more skilled team, and most of that "chemistry" is information
Key: Talking is the cheapest improvement available to a team — no fitness, no skill development, no ice time

The puck carrier is the least informed player on the ice. Their eyes are down or forward, and the forechecker closing from behind is in the one place they cannot look. Everyone else can see it.

A call turns a blind decision into an informed one. A defenceman retrieving in the corner has three plays to choose from. Without information they guess, and a guess in your own zone is how goals get scored. One word from the goalie — "time" or "man on" — ends the guessing.

The information usually sits with someone else. For a defenceman retrieving in their own corner, the two players who reliably see the blind side are the goalie, who faces the whole play, and the defence partner across the net. Neither has to decide what to do with the puck. A voice joins the seeing to the deciding.

Why the call exists: the player going to get the puck is the one who cannot see the danger, and in this picture the two who can see it, their partner and their goalie, are the two who cannot reach it, so all they can do is say so. Both are labelled "calls it": where two people can see it, both should call it, because the failure is silence, not duplication. The words are a team matter, so agree your own. The mirror of this picture is the same corner with nobody arriving, where the call is "time" — and a false "time" sends a teammate into contact they were not braced for. ⚠️ At the wall, whether or not anyone calls "man on", take the contact with your skates parallel to it, on your forearm and hip — not on the point of your shoulder, and not the whole shoulder if you can help it — head up and chin off your chest; never turn your back to anyone coming at you, not even to protect the puck, and never duck, because those are the two postures that turn contact with the boards into a neck injury.

What the shapes and fills mean

Half a second is the whole game. A call given before the puck arrives lets the receiver plan; the same call given as the puck arrives just startles them. See Scanning and Anticipation for the habit that lets you make calls early.

The loudest team usually looks like the more skilled team. A talking team makes fewer blind turnovers, arrives at pucks with a decision made, and rotates in its own zone without anyone stopping to work out whose job it is. From the stands that reads as skill and "chemistry"; most of it is information. It is the cheapest improvement available — no fitness, no skill work, no ice time.

The core call list

Each entry gives the word, who says it, what it means, and what you do when you hear it.

Pressure warnings

In short: Call pressure the moment you see it, because the carrier almost never can; on "man on", protect the puck and move it.

Action: Call the pressure the moment you see it — the carrier almost never can
Action: On "man on", stop trying to make a play; protect the puck and get rid of it — rim, chip off the glass, or a short pass
Never: Turn your back to anyone coming at you, after the puck or not, and never duck. Keep your head up and chin off your chest, and never take the boards on the point of your shoulder
Read: One forechecker can be beaten with a reverse or a quick turn; two means you are being sealed and the puck has to leave
Key: "Time" is the mirror of "man on" and just as valuable — fear of pressure that is not there throws pucks away. Say it only when you are sure
Action: On "feet" or "under", look down and kick it to your stick — the skate goes at the puck, never at the player — then reset. On "man on" the instruction is the opposite one: do not put your head down
Rule: Kicking or attempting to kick an opponent is a match penalty, injury or not, under NHL and PWHL 49.3, USA Hockey 627(b) (likely multi-game ban), Hockey Canada 7.1(c)(iii) and CARHA 48(c); the IIHF writes none — its 49.3 is a discretionary major, with an automatic game misconduct once assessed
Rule: The IIHF’s absent match penalty is a different structure, not a lighter one — 49.4 allows Supplementary Discipline above the ejection, and at a club in England or Wales, outside the Elite League, IHUK's discipline panel can add games
Rule: Kicking the puck is legal — NHL and IIHF 49.2, "permitted in all zones" — but USA Hockey 627(a) needs no kicking motion at all: a skate used to "push off" an opponent is a major plus a game misconduct
Rule: The "kick shot" — kicking your own stick blade to drive the puck — draws a whistle or a penalty in two books: USA Hockey 627(c) calls it "a very dangerous shot" and blows play dead; CARHA Rule 68 makes it a minor on any player "except a goalkeeper"; the other four disallow the goal it scores
Rule: A goal scored by kicking your own stick blade is disallowed by NHL, IIHF and PWHL 49.2 — no goal where an attacker kicks equipment at the puck, "including kicking the blade of his own stick" (IIHF "their own", PWHL "her own") — and by Hockey Canada 6.10(c), a bar on a goal off any kicked object
Never: Use "heads" to mean anything tactical. It means a puck or stick is in the air, so turn away and cover up
Convention: "Wheel" is the documented call for skating it yourself; keep "turn" only if your team already agrees what it means

These are the highest-value calls in hockey and the ones most often missed. All of them are said by whoever can see the pressure, which is almost never the puck carrier.

"Man on" — Said by anyone with a view of the puck carrier's blind side. An opponent is closing and the carrier cannot see them. If you hear it: stop trying to make a play. Protect the puck with your body, put the net or your own body between you and the pressure, and get rid of it — a rim, a chip off the glass, or a short pass to the nearest teammate. Do not put your head down.

One safety override, and it outranks everything else in this entry. "Man on" is shouted at a player near the wall who cannot see the check coming. ⚠️ Never turn your back to anyone coming at you, whether they are after the puck or after you, and never duck. A turned back makes the contact a hit from behind, and a tucked chin straightens the neck, so a head-first hit on the boards or a post drives straight down it. Head up, chin off your chest, and never take the boards on the point of your shoulder. Body Contact and Battles sets out how to brace for the hit and the research behind it.

If you are already facing the wall and cannot turn in time, get your stick and gloves up and spread out on the glass — damage limitation, not the position to aim for. The checker carries the legal obligation here, not you.
"One on" / "Two on" — Said by anyone, most often the goalie or a backchecker. The same warning with a count: one forechecker coming, or two. If you hear it: the number changes your play. One forechecker can be beaten with a reverse or a quick turn; two means you are being sealed and the puck needs to leave — rim it or glass it out.
"Heads up" — Said by anyone. Generic warning: something is coming that you have not seen. Less precise than "man on" but faster to shout when you have no time to be specific. If you hear it: get your head up and your body braced. Assume contact.

A related shout, "heads", is a pure safety call — a puck or stick is flying through the air toward someone. Turn away and cover up. Never use "heads" to mean anything tactical, and never as an instruction to duck into contact near the boards: ducking a flying puck in open ice is sensible; ducking a checker at the wall is how spinal injuries happen. See Body Contact and Battles and Skating.
"Behind you" — Said by anyone. Either an opponent or the puck is behind you. Ambiguous, which is its weakness — some teams reserve it for the puck and use "man on" for opponents. If you hear it: check over your shoulder immediately. If your team hasn't split the meaning, be prepared for either.
"Feet" / "Under" — Said by anyone. The puck is in your skates or directly under you and you have lost sight of it. If you hear it: look down and kick it to your stick — the skate goes at the puck, never at the player — and reset. This one is a genuine gift; a puck in your feet is invisible to you and obvious to everyone else. On "man on" the instruction is the opposite one: do not put your head down.

Send the skate at the puck, never at the player — ⚠️ and never at your own blade. A puck in your feet usually has an opponent's feet beside it, so this call is where a kick at the man happens. Kicking the puck itself is legal in every book here. Passing and Receiving carries the technique.

What it costs — kicking a player. Kicking the puck is "permitted in all zones" under NHL, IIHF and PWHL 49.2 and Hockey Canada 6.10(a), and under USA Hockey 627(c) subject to a goal-scoring proviso. ⚠️ Kicking or attempting to kick an opponent is a match penalty, whether or not anyone is hurt, under NHL and PWHL 49.3, USA Hockey 627(b) (with a likely multi-game suspension), Hockey Canada 7.1(c)(iii) and CARHA 48(c). The IIHF — a British reader's book — writes no match penalty: its 49.3 lets the referee, "at their discretion," give "a major penalty and an automatic game misconduct penalty", and 49.4 allows supplementary discipline above that (in the Elite League, its Department of Player Safety, EIHL Casebook Rule 28; at a club in England or Wales outside it, IHUK's discipline panel, which can add games). USA Hockey needs no kicking motion at all: 627(a) gives "a major plus a game misconduct penalty" for using your skate to "push off" an opponent, which its Note 2 defines as "a non-kicking motion to make contact with the opponent."

What it costs — the kick shot. Kicking your own stick blade to drive the puck is not kicking the puck. USA Hockey stops play for it: 627(c) bars the "kick shot" as "a very dangerous shot" with an immediate whistle and a faceoff, and its Casebook (627 Situation 6) applies that to a player whose arms are tied up in a scramble. CARHA Rule 68 makes it a minor for any player "except a goalkeeper". The NHL, IIHF and PWHL never use the phrase but disallow a goal scored by "kicking the blade of his own stick" (49.2; "their own" and "her own"), and Hockey Canada 6.10(c) bars a goal off any kicked object — none of those four whistles or penalises the act itself. Do not confuse that bar with 49.2(iii), which allows a goal where a kicked puck deflects off the kicker's own stick.
"Time" / "You've got time" / "No one on you" — Said by anyone with a view, most often the goalie. Nobody is close. This is the mirror image of "man on" and it is just as valuable, because a player who fears pressure that isn't there panics and throws the puck away. If you hear it: slow down. Lift your head, take an extra stride, make the good play instead of the safe one. If you are calling it, be sure — a false "time" sends a teammate into a hit unbraced.
"Wheel" — Said by a defence partner, a forward, or the goalie. Skate the puck yourself, usually around behind your own net and up the far side. It is one of the standard breakout options — see Breakouts. If you hear it: take off. The call means the person who said it can see that the route is clear, so commit rather than hesitating. Turn to the open ice, not into the boards.

Some teams say "turn" † instead — in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. Standardise on "wheel", the documented one; keep "turn" only if everybody already agrees what it means.

Puck direction

Action: Only call a direction you can genuinely see, and be prepared to be the target
Never: Send "over" or "D-to-D" through the front of your own net — an interception there is point-blank. Behind the goal line is the usual route, but ask your coach which one yours uses
Key: A rim goes onward around the boards with the flow, a reverse goes back against it — a rim beats a forechecker sealing you in, a reverse one who has over-run you
Technique: Keep a rim hard and high on the glass — a soft rim is a turnover with extra steps
Never: Turn your back to anyone coming at you on a rim, a reverse or a puck you are eating along the wall, and never duck — head up and chin off your chest
Rule: Under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL, shooting the puck directly out of play from your own zone is a two-minute minor — NHL 63.2(iii) reaches glass "behind" the bench, IIHF 63.2(III) glass "surrounding" it, wider; IIHF Situation 63.24 exempts only a puck straight into the bench, not one clearing the glass
Rule: Deliberately shooting the puck out of play is a minor from anywhere, after the whistle too (NHL 63.2(ii), IIHF 63.2(II)); USA Hockey has no own-zone rule for missing the glass — 610(c) is a minor if deliberate, 631(d) a faceoff if not — after the whistle, a misconduct or worse (601(c)(10), (d))
Rule: After your own icing your line cannot change (an injured player can still be replaced) and you cannot take a timeout — NHL and IIHF 81.4 and 87.1, PWHL 83.4 and 89.1; USA Hockey blocks neither
Rule: The post-icing substitution bar excepts only an injured player, a pulled goalie returning and a strength-changing penalty under NHL 81.4 and PWHL 83.4; in British hockey the IIHF's 81.4 adds a broken skate its own 82.1 omits
Read: "Ice it" is normal on the kill and expensive at even strength — the icing exemption is conditional under NHL and IIHF 81.6 and PWHL 83.6, restricted by classification under USA Hockey 624(b)(1)
Rule: Under NHL and IIHF rules the goalie may play the puck behind the goal line only inside the trapezoid (sole exception: skate contact with the crease), so a puck dumped wide there has to be retrieved by a defenceman
Rule: In Britain, plan for their goalie to come out for a dump-in — England Ice Hockey's R&R 22.3 (2024-25) calls the trapezoid "not currently enforced", its scope and standing unsettled; nothing in the Elite League's Casebook switches IIHF 27.7 off
Convention: "Eat it" (an unverified call) is a last resort: with no pass, chip, rim or icing on, shield the puck on your stick and take the hit until help comes. Some benches mean "run the clock" instead — keep it moving, never frozen, and only with nobody on you; agree which yours means
Never: Hold the puck under pressure in your own end — move it. Never pin it for a whistle: a minor in NHL, IIHF, PWHL, USA Hockey; Hockey Canada 6.12(b) and CARHA 55(a) can reach it even if checked

These tell the carrier where to put the puck. Because they arrive as instructions, they carry an obligation: only make them when you can genuinely see the option, and be prepared to be the target.

And several of these calls send a teammate into the boards, so the safety override on "man on" governs here too. On a rim, a reverse or "eat it", ⚠️ never turn your back to anyone coming at you, and never duck — head up, chin off your chest. Body Contact and Battles has the full treatment.

"Over" and "D-to-D" never go across the front of your own net, because an interception in the slot is a point-blank chance. That is the fixed half; the route is a convention. Most teams go behind the net, below the goal line, and this document assumes that; some exchange high, above the tops of the circles. Ask your coach which yours uses. See Defender.

A defence-to-defence pass in your own end goes behind your own net, below the goal line, and never across the slot — the shaded area, and the highest-danger ice there is. One intercepted in front of the net is a point-blank chance against, and among the most punished mistakes in the game — coaching emphasis, not a counted ranking. The same holds if you are carrying rather than passing: if no pass is on, skate behind the net to the other side instead of going through the middle. What varies between teams is the route rather than the prohibition — some exchange high in the zone instead, above the tops of the circles, so ask your coach which yours uses.

Diagram from defender · What the shapes and fills mean

Moving it to a teammate

"Over" — Said by the weak-side defenceman, or the goalie. Move the puck to the other side, typically behind the net. On a breakout it is the call that switches the play away from the forecheck's pressure. If you hear it: send it across behind your own goal line, not through the slot. Never make a D-to-D pass through the front of your own net — an interception there is a point-blank chance.
"Up" — Said by the strong-side defenceman or the winger on the wall. Move the puck up the same side it is already on — usually to the winger on the boards. If you hear it: hit the wall option and go with it.
"Reverse" — Said by a teammate arriving behind the carrier, often the defence partner or the goalie. Send the puck back the way it came, against the flow of the forecheck. If you hear it: the forechecker has over-committed and skated past you; the puck goes into the space they just vacated.
"Rim" — Said by anyone. Fire the puck hard along the boards so it follows the curve of the rink around to a teammate further along. If you hear it: keep it hard and keep it high on the glass so it doesn't die in the corner. A soft rim is a turnover with extra steps.

Rim and reverse are not the same play and the distinction is worth being precise about: a rim goes onward around the boards in the direction of the flow; a reverse goes back against it. A rim beats a forechecker sealing you in; a reverse beats one who has over-run you.
"D-to-D" — Said by a defenceman or the goalie. Pass across to your defence partner. Functionally a more explicit "over". If you hear it: never through the front of your own net — same restriction as "over", and the same usual route, behind the net and below the goal line, unless your team exchanges high instead.
"Chip" — Said by a supporting forward. Put a short pass past the defender into space for them to skate onto — an area pass rather than a pass to a stick. If you hear it: don't try to hit their blade. Put it where they are going.

Getting rid of it

"Off the glass" / "Glass" — Said by anyone, usually in the defensive zone under pressure. Clear the puck high off the boards and out. If you hear it: aim high and wide, keep it inside the rink, and never aim at the players' bench. A glass-out rarely gets called for icing, because it usually dies in the neutral zone. What it can cost you is two minutes.

What it costs — over the glass from your own zone. Shooting or batting the puck directly (non-deflected) out of play from your defending zone is a delay-of-game minor under NHL 63.2(iii) and IIHF 63.2(III), the IIHF's unchanged between its 2025/26 and 2026/27 editions. There is no "I was under pressure" exception; what counts is where the puck was when you hit it. The carve-outs are where there is no glass, a puck shot into the players' bench, and a puck that goes out directly off a faceoff. Whether that last covers a draw put out on purpose is unsettled: Rule 85.1 says no penalty "regardless as to which player may have last contacted the puck", the deliberate limb below reaches it, and no book reconciles the two. So never aim it out. Over the glass behind the bench is still a penalty, and the IIHF's clause ("surrounding" the bench, where the NHL says "behind") is a shade wider.

The bench is not a target. IIHF Situation 63.24 (2025/26 v1.1 and 2026/27 Handbooks) still gives the minor where a clear goes over the glass and drops into the bench: "the determining factor … is where the puck leaves the playing surface", judged on an imaginary plane running up from the top of the glass. Only a puck "shot directly into the Players' Bench (where there is no glass)" escapes. ⚠️ So a player who aims at the bench under pressure is aiming at the penalty. Situation 63.28 adds that scooping the puck over the glass behind the bench with a glove is a minor, and 63.3 that one clearing lower glass at the penalty box is not. The Handbook ranks below the book, so treat these as how it is officiated.

A deliberate one is two minutes from anywhere — ⚠️ after the whistle too (NHL 63.2(ii), IIHF 63.2(II)). USA Hockey writes no strict-liability limb: 610(c) reaches only a deliberate one, and 631(d) sends an accidental one to a faceoff. Hockey Canada (item v of 10.1) and CARHA 55(a) write only a goalie's-stick limb with no intent word. So under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL (65.2(iii)) books, missing the glass concedes a power play; under USA Hockey, and for a skater under Hockey Canada and CARHA, only if you meant it.

But under USA Hockey the after-whistle one escalates — ⚠️ firing the puck out of play during a stoppage is a misconduct; it is a game misconduct when done in protest of a call or toward a spectator or an official, and a match penalty and a likely multi-game suspension if it recklessly endangers one (601(c)(10), 601(d)(7) and (9), Note to 601(d)). 601(a)(4) adds an unsportsmanlike minor for an avoidable shot after the whistle, out of play or not. The book does not say which of 610(c) and 601(c)(10) governs, and its Casebook has no situation on it. The NHL and IIHF write no escalation. Hockey Canada puts it under unsportsmanlike conduct (item v of 11.1), because its 10.1(d) bars a misconduct for delay of game. Risk Management carries all of it.
"Ice it" — Said by anyone. The puck has to go all the way out even at the cost of a whistle. If you hear it: get it out, but know what you are buying. At even strength it is expensive: play stops, the faceoff is in your end, and under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL your tired line stays on. On the penalty kill it is normal, because a shorthanded team may usually ice the puck with no whistle — ⚠️ but check your book has that exemption before the call becomes a habit.

What it costs — after your own icing. Under NHL, IIHF and PWHL rules your line cannot change and you cannot take a timeout (NHL and IIHF 81.4 and 87.1; PWHL 83.4 and 89.1). NHL 81.4 allows three substitutions: "to replace a goalkeeper who had been substituted for an extra attacker, to replace an injured player, or when a penalty has been assessed which affects the on-ice strength of either team". A tired winger is not on that list; a hurt one is. For a British reader, IIHF 81.4 adds a fourth, "a Player with a broken skate", but IIHF 82.1, which states the same ban, does not, in either edition, and nothing says which governs. Ask your officials before relying on it, and never put a replacement over the boards on it: under IIHF 82.2(V) they are sent back and your coach warned — one warning per team per game across the three acts it names — and the next attempt is a bench minor.

USA Hockey blocks neither (624 restricts no substitution; 204 permits a change at any stoppage; 636(f) puts no icing condition on time-outs). Hockey Canada bars the change only in U18AAA, Junior, and Senior at the Member's option (6.7(d)), with three exceptions of its own, the injured player among them. It lets either team take its time-out, though the icing team still cannot change during it.

What it costs — on the kill. The exemption is a head count, not a clock. You are exempt while below the numerical strength of the opposing team. NHL 81.6 decides it "at the instant the penalty expires", and the penalised player staying in the box does not alter that — a sentence about that one player, not about a teammate still serving. So on a 5-on-3 the first expiry leaves you 4-on-5 and still exempt; on a 5-on-4, the common case, the exemption dies with the clock. A clear released in time still counts: "Should the puck be released from the stick of the player shooting the puck down the ice prior to the penalty expiring, the icing infraction shall not apply" — so keep making the call to the end of the kill. For a British reader, the IIHF writes that paragraph in the NHL's words, unchanged in 2026/27, and the PWHL does at 83.6. USA Hockey 624(b)(1) and Hockey Canada 6.7(b) write the head count in too; Hockey Canada's Interpretation 3 has the expired player "on the ice, for the purpose of equal numbers (or not)", and its Note 1 states the common case.

Two exceptions. ⚠️ Under NHL 81.6 and PWHL 83.6 only, a team short "by reason of a major penalty" that has "neglected to ensure there is a player on the penalty bench to exit upon the expiry of the penalty" may not ice it — "Icing will be called" — though it is a man short. NHL 20.3 lets a team defer that substitute, and one that misses the deadline plays "one player short (but not officially considered short-handed)". IIHF 81.6, USA Hockey 624 and Hockey Canada 6.7 write no such paragraph. And USA Hockey grants the exemption only "(For all Youth 15-Only and above, Girls 16U and above, High School and Adult classifications only)" (624(b)(1)) — below those, "ice it" on the kill buys your tired killers a defensive-zone draw, not a rest. Find out which rule set you play under. Special Teams covers icing on the penalty kill.
"Deep" / "Dump" — Said by a supporting forward. The entry isn't there; put the puck into the offensive zone, usually to a corner below the goal line, and chase. If you hear it: dump and go. Under NHL and IIHF rules the opposing goalie may play it behind the goal line only inside the trapezoid, so a puck dumped wide has to be retrieved by a defenceman with your forecheck arriving (rules in Where your goalie may play the puck). In any British competition, plan for their goalie to come out for it: England Ice Hockey's Rules & Regulations 22.3 call the restricted area "not currently enforced", its scope and standing unsettled, while nothing in the Elite League's Casebook switches IIHF 27.7 off (UK and England Rules).

When there is nowhere to put it

"Eat it" †— Said by a teammate who can see no pass, chip, rim or icing; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. It is the last resort, not the first choice: a pass, a chip off the glass, a rim or even an icing comes first. Only when none of those is there, protect the puck on the wall and take the hit: your body between the checker and the puck, the puck on your stick until help arrives or the checker ties it up for a faceoff — never pinned against the boards for a whistle. The action is commonly taught as "eating the puck", so that is the phrase to teach. In some rooms the short call "eat it" means something else: only a few seconds are left, so keep the puck where it is — on your stick and moving, not frozen against the boards, and only with nobody on you. In your own end under pressure it never means hold: move the puck. ⚠️ Neither gloss traces to a named source, and neither phrase appears in the call lists this document draws on, so treat both as unverified coaching usage. Same words, two instructions: agree which your bench means, or say "eat the puck" for the board battle and something else for the clock.

What it costs. Deliberately holding the puck against the boards to stop play is a delay-of-game minor under NHL 63.2(i), IIHF 63.2(I), PWHL 65.2(i) and USA Hockey 632(b), with no exception for being checked. USA Hockey does not even whistle a tie-up: the referee keeps play moving unless someone falls on the puck or the contact turns unnecessary, and one player holding it on the boards for three seconds is a minor (Casebook 632 Situations 4 and 6) — so there, keep working the puck free. Hockey Canada's item i of 10.1 and CARHA 74(b) excuse a player who is being checked. But Hockey Canada 6.12(b) still reaches making the puck unplayable "in order to gain a stoppage of play", and CARHA 55(a) makes deliberately delaying the game "in any manner" a bench minor. So pinning it for a whistle can cost you under both, even while checked.

Support and availability

In short: When you are open, say so and say where, because a carrier with their head down cannot use a silent option.

Goal: Tell the carrier you exist and where you are — without a voice you are not an option
Action: On "here", look to the voice even if you do not pass; you now know there is an outlet on that side
Read: Judge "middle" by zone — the highest-value place to move the puck going forward, but in your own end it crosses the slot and has to be certain
Risk: A cross-ice pass in your own zone crosses in front of your own net, and an interception there is a point-blank chance. Weigh "far side"; do not take it automatically
Rule: A receiver already across the blue line with both skates is offside; one skate on or behind the line keeps them onside (NHL Rule 83.1)
Rule: A skate in the air over the neutral zone counts as onside under NHL, IIHF and PWHL rules, but not under USA Hockey 630(a) or Hockey Canada 6.11 — two of the six require skate contact, and CARHA's wording does not settle it
Convention: "All alone" means no support and outnumbered on the published definition, but some teams use it for the support half only — agree which yours means
Never: Attack the defence alone when you hear "all alone". Slow down instead, protect the puck, or chip it in and wait for help

These tell the carrier that you exist and where you are. The carrier's head is often down; without a voice, you are not an option.

"Here" — Said by any open teammate. The simplest call in hockey. If you hear it: look to the voice. Even if you don't pass, you now know there is an outlet on that side.
"Middle" — Said by a support player in the middle of the ice. I am open through the centre. If you hear it: the middle is the highest-value place to move the puck in the offensive and neutral zones — and in your own end it is the pass that crosses the slot, where an interception is a point-blank chance. Judge by zone: in your defensive zone, a middle pass has to be certain.
"Back" — Said by a trailing support player. I am behind you and available for a drop pass or as the trailer. If you hear it: you can leave the puck rather than carrying it into trouble.
"With you" †— Said by a teammate skating alongside; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. I am on your hip, keep the puck alive. If you hear it: you have a two-player attack, not a one-player one. Slow down half a step and use them.
"I'm high" †— Said by a forward or a defenceman above the puck; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. I am the option closer to the blue line. If you hear it: this is usually your safe reset when the low options are covered.
"Far side" — Said by a support player on the opposite side of the rink. Your help is across the ice, not near you. If you hear it: the cross-ice option exists, but weigh it — a cross-ice pass in your own zone crosses in front of your own net, and an interception there is a point-blank chance.
"Outlet" †— Said by the first breakout option, usually a winger on the wall or a centre swinging low; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. I am your exit. If you hear it: move the puck and start the breakout.
"Stretch" — Said by a forward who has beaten the opposition up the ice. I am long, behind their forwards; put it up to me. (Documented as a spoken call: Sweden coach Sam Hallam lists "Stretch!" among the words his players shout.) If you hear it: check the blue line first — a teammate already across with both skates is offside. One skate on or behind the line keeps them onside. A skate in the air over the neutral zone counts as onside under NHL and IIHF rules, but not under USA Hockey or Hockey Canada, which require skate contact (Rules 630(a) and 6.11). CARHA's wording does not settle it, so under CARHA keep the skate on the ice.
"Point" — Said by anyone who can see the defenceman is open. The player at the blue line has space for a shot. If you hear it: get the puck up to the point, then get to the net front for the tip or rebound — beside the goalie, never into them.
"All alone" — Said by a teammate behind the play. You are entering the offensive zone with no support. The published call list this document draws on defines it as letting the carrier "know that they do not have any support and are out-numbered"; some teams use it for the support half only. Agree which yours means, because they lead to different decisions: no support says wait, outnumbered says do not enter at all. If you hear it: don't attack the defence alone. Slow it down, protect the puck, or chip it in and wait for help.

Danger and coverage

In short: In your own end, call the back door, the net front and the screen, and keep calling when you are tired.

Action: On "back door", the nearest player takes the unmarked opponent at the far post immediately
Key: The player who can see the back door is almost never the one who can cover it — that is why the call exists
Action: On a clean, called "switch", take the nearer opponent and answer it — unanswered is worse than none. Otherwise stay with your man, or in a zone hold your half; ask your team
Convention: "Sag" and "collapse" are low zone collapse language — meaningless under man-on-man, above the dots only under a hybrid; find out which your team plays
Priority: On "clear", the nearest player gets the loose puck out of the high-danger area — do not stickhandle
Action: On "screen", get out of the sightline, or hold your ground beside the screener — no lean, no push — and lift their stick low on the shaft, well below the bottom hand, as the puck arrives, then let go

These are defensive-zone calls. They are the ones teams stop making when they get tired, and the ones whose absence shows up directly on the scoresheet.

The first two calls name one piece of ice between them — the goalmouth, with "back door" naming its weak side, the far post where an unmarked opponent is hardest to see from the puck. The picture below draws that, and the second place a goal arrives from while four players watch a puck battle in the corner: an opponent sneaking into the high slot. See Scanning and Anticipation for the habit of checking both.

A puck battle in the corner of your own end. The question is not where the puck is but who scores if it comes out now: the net front, whose weak side is called the back door, and the shaded high slot — the ice between the circles, from the dots up to the top of them. Your other four skaters are deliberately not drawn, so whether either of these opponents is really unmarked depends on the coverage your team plays: a low zone collapse, a strict man-to-man or a hybrid. Find out which one your team plays, because it decides where your eyes belong. Neither region is painted on a rink.

Diagram from scanning and anticipation · What the shapes and fills mean

"Back door" — Said by anyone, most often the goalie or the weak-side player. There is an unmarked opponent at the far post. If you hear it: the nearest player takes them, immediately. How it ranks against every other unmarked position is not something anyone has counted; what makes the call necessary is that the person who can see it is almost never the person who can cover it.
"Net front" †— Said by anyone; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. Nobody is on the player standing in the goalmouth. If you hear it: cover them — take body position and hold it without leaning on them, and lift their stick low on the shaft, well below the bottom hand, as the puck arrives, then let go. Under the standard low zone collapse this belongs to the weak-side defenceman, but the call exists precisely for when it hasn't happened.
"Switch" — Said by either of two players who need to trade assignments. Most commonly used between defence partners and between a defenceman and a backchecking forward when two opponents cross. If you hear it: take the nearer opponent and let your teammate take the other. Whether you switch at all is your team's rule: under man-on-man, many teams trade only on a clean, called switch and otherwise have you follow your man through the crossing; in a zone the crossing trades your marks without a call. Ask which yours plays. The call has to come from the player who initiates it and it has to be answered — a switch called and not acknowledged is worse than no switch at all.
"My man" / "I've got them" / "I've got two" †— Said by the player taking an assignment; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. I am covering this opponent, you take someone else. If you hear it: stop tracking that player and find the unmarked one. Using the opponent's jersey number ("I've got seventeen") removes all ambiguity and is worth the extra syllable.
"Sag" / "Collapse" †— Said by a defenceman, the centre or the goalie; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. Tighten in toward the net; give up the outside and protect the slot. If you hear it: the shape shrinks. This is system language for a low zone collapse (zone) coverage, the default assumed throughout. Under man-on-man it makes no sense, because you go where your man goes; under a hybrid it applies only above the dots. Find out which your team plays — see Defensive Zone Coverage.
"Clear" — Said by anyone. The puck is loose in the high-danger area and the nearest player has to move it out now. If you hear it: don't stickhandle. Nearest player, get it out.
"Screen" — Almost always said by the goalie, because they are the one who knows — but a defenceman who can see their goalie has no sightline should say so too. I cannot see the puck. If you hear it: move out of the sightline, or take body position beside the screener and hold it — no lean, no push — and lift their stick low on the shaft, well below their bottom hand, as the puck arrives, then let go. A stick you keep tied up can be called holding, and in several books a lift at the hands is a penalty too. Do not try to move them: walking them out can be called interference wherever you play, and where checking is barred an illegal check as well. Move fast, because a no-contact screen outside the crease is legal and nobody is coming to help. See Defensive Zone Coverage for the box-out, and Moving a screener — what the books allow, immediately below, for what each book charges.

Moving a screener — what the books allow

Technique: Never walk a screener out: it can be called interference anywhere and an illegal check in non-checking play. Hold your ice, no lean or push; as the puck arrives, lift the stick below the hands, let go
Rule: At or near the hands, IIHF 55.1 reaches a stick lift on location alone, though its next sentence exempts stick-to-stick-only contact while checking; USA Hockey 623 and Hockey Canada 8.2(a) reach it only on effect. Lift well below the bottom hand as the puck arrives, then let go
Rule: NHL 55.1 and PWHL 56.1 write no hands sentence, and their slashing rules (NHL 61.1, PWHL 63.1) catch only a chop that is not an attempt to play the puck — but the IIHF, USA Hockey and Hockey Canada can reach a lift at the hands, so lift well below the bottom hand as the puck arrives, then let go
Rule: A chop at the hands or the stick is slashing under NHL 61.1, IIHF 61.1 in the same words bar the pronoun, and USA Hockey 634; slashing reaches a major and an ejection with nobody injured in every book here (NHL 61.3, PWHL 63.3, IIHF 61.3, USA Hockey 634(b), Hockey Canada 9.3(b), CARHA 80(a))
Rule: NHL and IIHF 56.1 grant "the ice" a player is "standing on"; impeding one "not in possession of the puck" is a minor at 56.2(i), a major at 56.4. USA Hockey lets a skater "stand their ground" too; Hockey Canada's 8.1 assumes body position; its 8.3(i) reaches the same impeding
Rule: PWHL 57.1 grants a player "the ice she is standing on", and 57.2(i) is a minor for impeding an opponent "not in possession of the puck", 57.4 a discretionary major — the same body-position grant as NHL and IIHF 56.1, in the feminine
Rule: Never walk a screener out — in no book is it only a two-minute risk; in USA Hockey a reckless shove is a mandatory major and game misconduct — as roughing (640(g)) or, with checking barred, 604(d) — plan on a match and a likely multi-game ban (602(a)); in women's hockey IIHF 101.1, at least a minor
Rule: Hockey Canada prices a push that moves a screener in U13 and below, female hockey and any other division a Member has approved — 7.3(a) is a minor, 7.3(b) a major plus a game misconduct on the degree of violence with nobody hurt and mandatory on injury from an otherwise-minor check, 7.3(c) a match
Rule: Moving a screener can be called interference, NHL and IIHF 56.2(i); a two-handed shove on the shaft to do it can be called cross-checking instead, NHL and IIHF 59.1. Either way it is a foul — hold your ground beside them
Rule: A cross-check that moves a screener is an NHL minor at 59.2, a discretionary major at 59.3 with an automatic game misconduct (59.5), and a match at 59.4 for an attempted or deliberate injury. USA Hockey's rulebook names the net-front cross-check as an example — an emphasis, not a frequency ranking
Rule: Every book pairs a game misconduct with a cross-checking major — NHL 59.5, PWHL 60.5 and Hockey Canada 9.2(e) always, IIHF 59.3 and USA Hockey 609(b) if reckless, CARHA 54(a) and (c) — and under USA Hockey 404(b) and CARHA 32(d) the ejection also costs at least the next game
Rule: A no-contact screen outside the crease is not a penalty — NHL and IIHF Situation 5 E answers "Goal is allowed", though that is an appendix table, not rule text. Inside the crease, IIHF 69.1 and USA Hockey 625(b) both reach a stoppage, the IIHF's discretionary, USA Hockey's on three conditions
Rule: The crease keying that leaves an outside screen legal is the NHL's and the IIHF's Rule 69 and the PWHL's Rule 71, the same crease keying in the feminine — USA Hockey writes no vision provision and Hockey Canada's two reach only the crease, so an outside screen is legal there too
Rule: CARHA lets you stand your ground against a screener but not lean on them, and penalises not averting contact you could avoid — Note 2 to Rule 66(a) against Rule 49(a), CARHA-affiliated adult leagues only

What to do, wherever you play: hold your ground beside the screener, do not lean on them, and lift their stick low on the shaft, well below the bottom hand, as the puck arrives — then let go. Never walk them out and never cross-check them out. The rest of this section is what each book charges if you get it wrong.

The stick lift. At or near the hands, the IIHF, USA Hockey and Hockey Canada can reach a lift — the IIHF's 55.1 on location alone, the other two only where it stops the opponent playing the puck. The NHL and PWHL hooking rules (NHL 55.1, PWHL 56.1) write no hands sentence, and their slashing rules (NHL 61.1, PWHL 63.1) reach only a "forceful or powerful chop… that, in the judgment of the Referee, is not an attempt to play the puck", which a clean low lift is neither. One IIHF tension the book does not resolve: 55.1's next sentence exempts contact that is only stick-to-stick when a player is checking another, and a lift under the shaft is stick-to-stick. No IIHF interpretation reconciling the two is held here, so the caution may be stricter than the rule. Low is still the answer.

Never chop instead. ⚠️ A chop at the hands can reach a major plus a game misconduct with nobody injured in all six books (NHL 61.3 with 61.5, PWHL 63.3 with 63.5, IIHF 61.3, USA Hockey 634(b), Hockey Canada 9.3(b), CARHA 80(a) with 30(a)), and under USA Hockey and CARHA at least the next game as well (404(b), 32(d)). IIHF 61.1 is the NHL's slashing sentence bar the pronoun and punctuation, and USA Hockey 634 a shortened form with no "attempt to play the puck" let-out — and all three name a chop at the opponent's stick as slashing too. A hooking major needs an injury under the NHL (55.3) and Hockey Canada (8.2(b)), but not under the IIHF (55.3) or USA Hockey (623(b)), which reach it for recklessly endangering an opponent — and under USA Hockey plan on a match above it, and a likely multi-game suspension (602(a)). Rule text in Body Contact and Battles → Stick Checks.

Holding your ground is written as legal by the NHL, the IIHF, the PWHL and USA Hockey. NHL and IIHF 56.1: "a player is allowed the ice he is standing on (body position) and is not required to move in order to let an opponent proceed" (the IIHF's in the plural, in its general book; the PWHL's at 57.1, in the feminine). USA Hockey's Declaration of Player Safety: "A skater is entitled to stand their ground and is not required to move if an opponent wishes to skate through that area of the ice." Its Casebook (Standard of Play, Situation 5) even lets a defender "use size, strength and balance to lean on your opponent" "as long as the arm(s) are not extended" — there the push is the foul, and "no lean" is a habit rather than the rule. Hockey Canada writes no such grant: its Rule 8.1 assumes body position rather than granting it, and its interference rule, 8.3(i), reaches anyone who "impedes the progress of an opponent, who is not in possession of the puck" — ⚠️ so there, keep the position you already have and never lean or push to keep it.

CARHA lets you stand your ground, but reaches the lean. Its Note 2 to Rule 66(a) says "the defending players are entitled to 'stand their ground' or 'shadow' the attacking players" — a screener is an attacking player, so holding position is permitted. ⚠️ What it does not permit is the active half of a box-out. Rule 49(a), with no division or classification scope, assesses "⁠[a] Minor or Major penalty, at the discretion of the Referee, based upon the intent and the violence of the impact" to a player who "intentionally bodies, pushes, shoves, stands in front of an opponent for the purpose of making contact, and/or does not avert body contact with an opponent". The major is mandatory on injury, and a major there also ejects you (30(a)) with at least a one-game suspension (32(d)). 49(c) excuses only "accidental contact", and a box-out is not accidental.

Walking the screener out is also CARHA 66(a)(1) interference — a minor or, at the referee's discretion, a major and a game misconduct, which brings at least a one-game ban (32(d)). Its stick rules (63(a) holding, 64(a) hooking) carry no "at or near the hands" sentence — a reading of two short rules, not a CARHA interpretation. All of this is CARHA-affiliated adult leagues only, not a rec-hockey standard and not a British reader's rule; if you play adult rec hockey in Canada, ask whether your league is affiliated. Rules Primer sets out what else that book does differently.

Walking the screener out of the lane is a different act. ⚠️ It can be called interference wherever you play, and where checking is barred an illegal check as well — and interference is only the floor. NHL and IIHF 56.2(i) make it a minor to impede "an opponent who is not in possession of the puck", and 56.4 a discretionary major (PWHL 57.2(i), 57.4). 56.5 adds a game misconduct above it — at the referee's discretion in the IIHF, only where it injures in the NHL and PWHL (57.5). Hockey Canada 8.3(b) and CARHA 66(a) reach a major with a game misconduct at the referee's discretion, both mandatory where it injures (Hockey Canada 8.3(b), CARHA 66(e)); CARHA's also brings at least a one-game ban (32(d)). USA Hockey 625(a)(4) names the act — "⁠[a] defending player who changes their skating lane or foot speed in an effort to play the body of an opponent who is no longer in control of the puck" — and Rule 625 carries no Competitive Contact scope, so it reaches every reader, checking league or not.

Under USA Hockey the same shove can be called harder, checking league or not. As roughing under 640(d) — a body check with no effort at the puck and the stick blade above the knees — it is a minor, and 640(g) a mandatory major plus a game misconduct where it recklessly endangers the screener. From behind it is checking from behind — 608(a) a minor plus a misconduct at least, 608(b) a mandatory major plus a game misconduct where it recklessly endangers them or sends them head first into the boards or goal frame. With both hands on the shaft and no part of the stick on the ice it is a cross-check (609, below) — and a blade on the ice does not make the shove legal. ⚠️ Plan on a match and a likely multi-game suspension wherever any of these recklessly endangers the screener: USA Hockey 602(a) says a match "shall be assessed", though 640(h) and 604(e) say only that one "may also be assessed". And 604(b) bars body checking outright any time a checking team plays a non-checking one.

Where checking is barred, the minor is not the ceiling. USA Hockey 604(c) is a minor in every Competitive Contact classification (12 & under and below, all Girls' and Women's, all non-check Adult, 604(a)), and ⚠️ a reckless check there is a major plus a game misconduct (604(d)) — plan on a match too, and a likely multi-game suspension (602(a)). Hockey Canada 7.3 applies in U13 and below, in female hockey and in any division a Member approves. It is a minor at 7.3(a); a major and game misconduct at the referee's discretion on the degree of violence with nobody hurt at 7.3(b), mandatory where it injures; and a match at 7.3(c) for a player who "deliberately attempts to or deliberately injures an opponent by body-checking." In women's hockey, IIHF 101.1 lets a player "hold their ground", but "Any move by a Player to step or glide into an opposing Player will be assessed at least a minor penalty (2') for an 'illegal hit'", with a major plus an automatic game misconduct above it. Body Contact and Battles sets out which book is yours.

Do not cross-check the screener out either. A shove with both hands on the shaft is a cross-check, and USA Hockey's Standard of Play names the net-front cross-check as its leading example. That is an enforcement emphasis, not a frequency ranking — the play-by-play figures are in Body Contact and Battles — but officials are watching for it, so it is a bad way to win the space.

What a cross-check costs. NHL 59.2 is a minor and 59.3 a major, both "at the discretion of the Referee based on the severity of the contact", with a match at 59.4. ⚠️ And the major is an ejection. NHL 59.5: "When a major penalty is assessed for cross-checking, an automatic game misconduct penalty shall be imposed on the offending player." Every book here rides the two together. PWHL 60.5 uses the NHL's words, and CARHA 54(a) and 54(c) pair them too, adding at least a one-game ban (32(d)). Hockey Canada 9.2(e): "A Game Misconduct penalty must be assessed any time a Major penalty is assessed for cross-checking". USA Hockey 609(b) makes it a major plus a game misconduct for reckless endangerment, which also suspends you for the next game (404(b)), and the IIHF's 59.3 bundles "a major penalty and an automatic game misconduct penalty" but gates them on a player who "recklessly endangers their opponent".

A match tier sits above the cross-checking major in NHL 59.4, PWHL 60.4, USA Hockey 609(c), Hockey Canada 9.2(c) and CARHA 54(d); IIHF Rule 59 writes none, allowing supplementary discipline (59.6) instead — a different structure, not a lighter one. ⚠️ For a reckless cross-check under USA Hockey, plan on a match and a likely multi-game suspension: 602(a) says a match "shall be assessed", though 609(c) itself says only that one may be.

The screen itself — set outside the crease, without contact — is legal, and no whistle is coming. Under the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL (its Rule 71, in the feminine), the goaltender-interference rule does its positional work at the crease. Clause (1) of 69.1 — an attacker who "impairs the goalkeeper's ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal" — is the one quoted at a screener, but it sits under "Goals should be disallowed only if", which caps when a goal may come off rather than directing that one does. ⚠️ So the crease keying is a reading of how the rule is assembled — but all three print the answer. The screener who stays in motion outside the crease and "impairs the goalkeeper's ability to defend his goal", and the one who "plants himself on the crease line or outside the goal crease, as to obstruct the goalkeeper's vision and impair his ability to defend his goal", are both answered "Goal is allowed". They are Situations 5 C and 5 E of NHL Reference Table 14, Table 14 of the IIHF's Appendix IV (Table 16 in 2025/26), and the PWHL's own Table 14; the wording quoted is the NHL's.

It is a judgement on the goal afterwards, not a whistle; the NHL and IIHF allow a Coach's Challenge or Video Review, while the PWHL answers its own 71.5 "Not applicable" and uses a Central Situation Room Review.

Two limits on that. If your goalie has played the puck outside the crease, an attacker whose "deliberate actions" stop them getting back "may be penalized for goalkeeper interference" (69.4) — with no contact needed, though "may", not "will". And the crease line is where the books split: the IIHF (1.7), USA Hockey (the Note to 625(b)) and Hockey Canada (its Glossary) count the line as part of the crease, while Situation 5 E allows a screen planted "on the crease line" — so work just outside the paint and off the red.

A body standing in the crease is a different rule, and there a whistle can come. The IIHF's 69.1 lets the referee stop play where an attacker "is in the goal crease and does not leave immediately", with a neutral-zone faceoff. USA Hockey 625(b) makes it a duty: a neutral-zone faceoff "any time an attacking player stands, holds their stick, or skates through the goal crease", provided the puck is in the attacking zone, the attackers have it, and the goalie is in contact with the crease. The NHL and Hockey Canada write no crease stoppage. That is a whistle for a body in the paint, not something to appeal for against a screen in front of it.

Outside the crease, USA Hockey and Hockey Canada are more permissive still. ⚠️ Neither reaches a screen set from outside the crease. USA Hockey writes no goalie-vision provision at all, in its playing rules or its Casebook. Hockey Canada's two references to the goalie's view — Rule 8.5's Goal Crease Area paragraph and Interpretation 3 to 8.5(a), which disallows a goal where a player "while standing in the crease" impedes "the goaltender's vision or movements" — reach only a player in the crease. Under every book here, the screen outside the paint is yours to deal with — by holding your ground, not by moving them. Rules Primer carries the book-by-book comparison, and the limit on that negative: it is a search of the playing rule books, USA Hockey's Casebook and Hockey Canada's Interpretations.

Rush and transition

In short: On the rush, call the numbers early and short, and on "backcheck" turn and sprint before you look.

Action: On "odd man", the defenders stop thinking about the puck and start thinking about numbers
Convention: Published call lists use the short numeric forms — "Two", "One" — and short wins at speed
Convention: Defending a two-on-one, take away the pass and give up the shot — stick flat in the passing lane; whether you hold the lane or time a slide across it is your team's system, so ask which, and Defending the Rush sets out both
Key: The defenceman commits to the pass and the goalie to the shooter — it only works if both say out loud which half is theirs
Action: On "backcheck", turn and sprint first and look second; puck-watching while drifting backwards opens the middle lane
Action: On "pick them up", get on the defensive side of the attacker — between them and your net, not behind their shoulder
Convention: Who owns which lane on a backcheck is a coaching choice — centre in the middle, first man back in the middle, or man-on-man from the puck outward; find out which your team plays
Key: Under every backcheck lane variant somebody owns the middle and nobody assumes it is somebody else

The rush is where communication most often fails, because everyone is skating flat out and nobody wants to be the one who spoke wrongly.

"Odd man" †— Said by a backchecker or the goalie; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. They have more attackers than we have defenders. If you hear it: the defenders stop thinking about the puck and start thinking about numbers. Full detail in Defending the Rush.
"Two-on-one" / "Three-on-two" — The "odd man" call with the count. Published call lists use the short numeric forms — "Two" or "One" — and short wins at speed. If you hear it as a defenceman on a two-on-one: take away the pass and give up the shot — in the passing lane, stick flat on the ice, no slide until the pass is released. That is one of two legitimate systems; some teams coach a timed slide to force the shot. Find out which yours plays before you need it. Defending the Rush covers both.
"I've got the pass" / "Take the shooter" †— Said between a defenceman and the goalie; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. The defenceman takes the passing lane, the goalie the shooter. If you hear it as the goalie: square up to the puck carrier and play the shot. This split is the standard way to defend a two-on-one, and it works only if both say out loud which half is theirs. Published goalie material documents the split from the goalie's side, with the single word "shot" (below); only these words, said by the defenceman, are undocumented. For the verified call, use the goalie's.
"Backcheck" — Said by anyone, often the bench. We have lost the puck; get back. If you hear it: turn and sprint first, look second. Puck-watching while drifting backwards is how the middle lane opens up.
"Pick them up" / "Take the middle" †— Said by a defenceman to an arriving backchecker, or between backcheckers; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. An attacker is unmarked and you are the closest. If you hear it: get on the defensive side of them — between them and your net — not behind their shoulder. Who owns which lane on a backcheck is a coaching choice, not a law. Most commonly the centre owns the middle and the wingers the outside lanes; some teams send the first man back to the middle, others pick up man-on-man from the puck outward. Defending the Rush sets them out, with the four named team backchecking systems. Find out which your team plays — under every variant somebody owns the middle and nobody assumes it is somebody else.

Bench and line changes

In short: Change on the fly by voice and as a group, never during a defensive-zone scramble or when you are caught deepest.

Action: On "change", go as a group
Never: Change during a defensive-zone scramble, or when you are the player caught deepest
Never: Use "last change" or "last man" to mean a completed change — both already mean something else and will get you the wrong reaction
Rule: The home team's last change is lost after its own icing and kept after the visitors' — NHL and IIHF Rules 82.1 and 81.4
Rule: A change is legal while the retiring player is within five feet of the bench and out of the play — NHL and IIHF Rule 74.1, the IIHF's the same limit in metric at 1.50 m. The offence is joining the play too early, not sharing a seat (Rule 74.2)
Rule: That five feet is the NHL's, the IIHF's and the PWHL's, at Rule 76.1 in the feminine. Hockey Canada 6.1(a) allows 3.05 m (10 ft.), and USA Hockey 204(b) writes no distance at all — but penalises a change that "causes their team to gain a competitive advantage" with no puck touched and nobody hit
Rule: After your own icing whoever is on the ice stays — no line change (82.1) and no timeout (87.1) under NHL and IIHF rules and at PWHL 84.1 and 89.1, three narrow substitution exceptions aside, none of them a tired player; USA Hockey blocks neither
Rule: After your own icing, NHL Rule 82.1 allows exactly three substitutions — a pulled goalie, an injured player, or a penalty affecting on-ice strength; "they're gassed" is not on the list
Rule: In British hockey, IIHF Rule 81.4 adds a fourth exception after an icing, a player with a broken skate, but the same book's Rule 82.1 does not carry it. Check with your officials before planning a change around it
Rule: A replacement put over the boards on that broken-skate exception is sent back and your coach warned (IIHF Rule 82.2(V)) — one warning per team per game, covering all three of the acts 82.2(V) names, then a bench minor
Action: On "stay", finish the shift — a tired player in position beats a fresh player arriving late

Changing on the fly happens while the play is still running: a team briefly out of shape, and a bench minor waiting if the timing is wrong. It is coordinated almost entirely by voice.

"Change" — Said by a player on the ice, or from the bench. The line is going off now. If you hear it on the ice: go, as a group. Never change during a defensive-zone scramble or when you are the player caught deepest.
"I've got first player off" †— Said by a player on the bench; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. I am taking the seat of the first teammate who comes off, so nobody else jumps for it. If you hear it: the first opening is claimed; wait for the second.

Do not use "last change" or "last man" for this. Both already mean something else. "Last change" is the home team's right to put its line-up on after the visitors — the main mechanical part of home-ice advantage, and the sense used in Game Management. The home team loses it after its own icing and keeps it after the visitors' (Rule 82.1, with 81.4); Faceoffs is the authority. "Last man" means the deepest defender, the one player who must not leave — the opposite of "the change is done, go". If you want a call for that, pick a word neither owns.
"I'm coming" / "I got next" — Said by a player leaving the ice, or a player on the bench claiming the next spot. If you hear it: the spot is taken; don't jump. But the penalty turns on distance and involvement, not seats: the player coming off has to be at the bench and out of the play before the replacement joins it.

What it costs. A bench minor comes when the replacement steps on before the retiring player is "within five feet (5') of his players' bench", or when either plays the puck or makes contact while both are on the ice (NHL 74.1 and 74.2; IIHF 74.1 writes 1.50 m). Hockey Canada 6.1(a) allows 3.05 m (10 ft.). USA Hockey 204(b) writes no distance, but adds a bench minor where the change "causes their team to gain a competitive advantage", with no puck touched and nobody hit. If your team scores before the whistle, 74.2 disallows the goal and the penalty still comes. Team Play and Culture sets the divergence out.
"Stay" †— Said by a teammate or the bench to a player thinking about changing; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. Don't change now; the situation is too dangerous. If you hear it: finish the shift. A tired player in position beats a fresh player arriving late.
"Next shift" †— Said on the bench; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call. You are up after this one. If you hear it: get to the door, get your head into the game situation, and know who you are replacing.

A rules point that catches teams out: after your own icing, under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL books you cannot change lines (NHL and IIHF 82.1, PWHL 84.1) or take a timeout (NHL and IIHF 87.1, PWHL 89.1). That is exactly when bench communication matters most, because a tired line is about to take a defensive-zone draw.

Rule 82.1 allows only three substitutions then: to replace a goalie who had been pulled for an extra attacker, to replace an injured player, or when a penalty affects the on-ice strength of either team. "They're gassed" is not on the list. For a British reader, IIHF 81.4 adds a fourth, "a Player with a broken skate", but IIHF 82.1, stating the same ban, lists only the three, in both editions. Neither edition settles which governs, and the Situation Handbook's 81.7 — a change "only" on a strength-changing penalty — is over-broad but adverse. So check with your officials rather than plan around it, and never put a replacement over the boards on it: IIHF 82.2(V) sends them back and warns your coach that further violations bring "a bench minor penalty for 'delaying the game'" — one warning per team per game, across the three acts 82.2(V) names. Under the NHL it can be the bench minor with no warning: 82.3 assesses one to the visiting team for any change after the referee's signal, which its own 82.2(v) contradicts.

Faceoffs

In short: Before the drop, the centre tells everyone the play and the fallback, and the wingers stay out of the circle.

Action: The centre tells the other four skaters the play before lining up — an actual sentence, while the linesperson is still skating in
Priority: Keep the menu tiny — two or three plays everyone knows cold beat ten nobody remembers
Action: Name a fallback for a scramble, usually "everyone takes their man", so a lost draw does not become a lost coverage
Rule: A winger creeping inside the circle before the drop gets the centre thrown out of the dot, not the winger — NHL Rule 76.6, USA Hockey 613(d) and IIHF 76.6 from its 2026/27 edition; the IIHF 2025/26 edition warned the team and ejected nobody
Rule: After an icing the NHL and the IIHF 2026/27 book warn instead of ejecting — Rule 76.4, "the first face-off violation by either team will not result in the center being removed"; the IIHF 2025/26 book and USA Hockey write no such carve-out
Rule: In Britain outside the Elite League, IHUK settles that whichever IIHF edition your league runs — "the linesperson shall immediately replace the centre for all violations", faceoffs following icings excepted (In-House Rules 2026-27, Section 10, Rule 76)
Rule: The Elite League sits outside the In-House Rules, which never name it, and the EIHL Casebook writes no Rule 76 at all — so an Elite League draw runs IIHF 2026/27 Rule 76.6, which ejects the centre too, and IIHF 76.4, which warns instead on the first violation after an icing
Rule: A second violation by the same team on the same draw is a bench minor under NHL and IIHF 76.7 and PWHL 78.7, so the replacement has to be clean — USA Hockey 613(d) makes it an individual minor on the offender, while Hockey Canada 6.2(e) and CARHA 57(d) leave it to the referee
Rule: Hockey Canada's discretion goes if that player then contacts the linesperson before they have had "reasonable time to vacate the face-off location" — there the minor "will be assessed" (Hockey Canada 6.2(e))
Action: Agree in advance which winger steps in when the centre is tossed, and that they are looking for a safe tie-up rather than anything clever
Convention: Use hand signals here, but only ones agreed in the dressing room and never invented in the moment — you can be seen but not heard, and the opposition can hear you

Faceoff communication happens before the puck drops, when nobody is moving and everybody can hear. That makes it the easiest communication in hockey and the most commonly skipped.

The centre tells the four other skaters what the play is, before lining up. Not a code word shouted at the last second — an actual sentence said while the linesperson is still skating in. Coaches who run set plays off the draw are unanimous that the plays only work when every player knows their assignment, and the pre-draw window is when that gets established.
Keep the menu tiny. Two or three offensive-zone plays that everyone knows cold beats ten that nobody remembers. Most teams run something like: win it back to the point for a shot with traffic already in place; win it back to the strong-side winger for a quick chance; or, on a defensive-zone draw, win it to the boards-side defenceman for an immediate rim out.
Name a fallback. Most draws are not won cleanly. Agree what happens on a scramble — usually "everyone takes their man and we sort it out" — so a lost draw doesn't become a lost coverage.
Two things the wingers must be told. First, if a winger creeps inside the faceoff circle before the drop, the centre is usually thrown out of the dot, not the winger — ⚠️ so stay out of the circle and behind your hash marks until the puck drops. Second, agree in advance which winger steps in when the centre is tossed: a safe tie-up, nothing clever, because a second violation on the same draw is a penalty.

What it costs — the circle. NHL 76.6 and USA Hockey 613(d) eject the centre — USA Hockey's words: where another player "fails to maintain their proper position, the center of their team shall be ejected from the face-off". The IIHF's 2026/27 76.6 now agrees; its 2025/26 edition only warned the team. After an icing, the NHL warns first: 76.4, "When an icing infraction occurs, the first face-off violation by either team will not result in the center being removed", any later one by that team a bench minor. The IIHF 2026/27 book carries that word for word; USA Hockey has no such carve-out, so there the centre goes on the first one whatever stopped play.

The hash marks. Crossing your own hash marks is a violation in every book, but the NHL's 76.7(ii) (and IIHF 76.7(II)) names no consequence for the centre. USA Hockey ejects for it: 613(d)'s ejection is worded on "proper position" generally, 613(b) puts every other player "behind the hash marks on the outer edge of the face-off circle", and its Casebook (Rule 613, Situations 9 and 10) has the Linesperson "signal which center(s) shall be removed" on a first offence.

🇬🇧 In Britain. Outside the Elite League, the IHUK In-House Rules 2026-27 settle it whichever IIHF edition your league runs: "With the exception of face-offs following icings, the linesperson shall immediately replace the centre for all violations" (Section 10, Rule 76). The Elite League sits outside that document — it never names it — but the Motorpoint EIHL Casebook 26-27 writes no Rule 76 and leaves the rest to "the official 2026 - 2027 IIHF Rulebook", so an Elite League draw runs IIHF 76.6 and 76.4 and lands in the same place.

A second violation. A bench minor under NHL and IIHF 76.7 and PWHL 78.7, and so in British games too; an individual minor on the offender under USA Hockey 613(d). Hockey Canada 6.2(e) and CARHA 57(d) leave it to the referee — ⚠️ but Hockey Canada's second paragraph is not permissive: where "the offending player subsequently contacts the Linesperson before the Linesperson has had reasonable time to vacate the face-off location", that team "will be assessed a Minor penalty". CARHA's clause and USA Hockey's are each scoped to their own subsection, so neither is narrower than the other. See Faceoffs for the books side by side.
Hand signals are common here because you can be seen but not heard across a circle, and because the opposition can hear you. A tap on the boards, a glove pointed at a spot, or a stick blade angled toward the intended target all work — provided they were agreed in the dressing room and not invented in the moment.

Who owns which call

In short: Whoever can see it makes the call, whatever their age or role, and where two players can see it, both call it.

Key: The player who can see it makes the call — not the captain, not the defenceman, not the loudest
Action: Let the goalie lead the defensive zone — they face the play, they are stationary, and nothing is behind them
Action: The defencemen call the breakout — "up", "over", "reverse" and "wheel" are called to the retriever, not chosen by them
Action: The centre announces the low-zone rotation, because the centre leaving is the one who knows it is happening
Action: Backcheckers call their own pickups, so the defencemen can commit to the puck instead of hedging
Action: Forecheckers name their own order of arrival — F1, F2 and F3 are settled by who reaches the puck first, so say which one you have
Action: The bench calls changes and warns about what the on-ice players cannot see
Convention: Where two people can see it, both call it — the failure mode you are guarding against is silence, not duplication

The organising principle is one line long: the player who can see it makes the call. Not the captain, not the defenceman, not the loudest — whoever has the information. That means an eighteen-year-old rookie shouting at a veteran is correct behaviour, and a team where that feels wrong will concede goals for it.

On top of that principle sit a few standing responsibilities, which exist because certain players reliably have certain information:

The goalie is the loudest voice in the defensive zone. They face the play, they are stationary, and nothing in the zone is behind them. See the next section.
The defencemen call the breakout. The puck retriever cannot see the forecheck arriving; their partner and the weak-side defenceman can. "Up", "over", "reverse" and "wheel" are almost always called to the puck carrier by someone else, not chosen by the carrier. A common coaching drill has the weak-side defenceman read where the second forechecker is and make the call for the teammate under pressure — that is the whole shape of the responsibility in one sentence.
The centre organises the low defensive zone. The centre's job moves with the puck, which means they are the player whose assignment is most often ambiguous, which means they are the player who most needs to announce it. When the centre goes to help in the corner, someone has to cover the high slot — under the standard coverage that is the weak-side winger. Anyone with a clear view can call that rotation, but the centre leaving is the one who knows it is happening. See Centre.
Backcheckers call their own pickups. The players skating back are the only ones who know who they have got. Calling "I've got the middle" or "I've got seventeen" on the way back lets the defencemen commit to the puck instead of hedging.
Forecheckers name their own order of arrival. F1, F2 and F3 are not positions — they are roles set by who reaches the puck first, and they change hands mid-shift — so nobody knows which one they have until somebody says it. "I've got F1" †— said by the forward going in first; in common use, but undocumented as a spoken call — claims the first-in job, and "I'm high" claims the job of staying above the puck. It takes half a second and it prevents the most expensive forechecking error there is: two players doing the same job while nobody does the other one. See Forechecking Systems.
The bench calls changes and warns about what the on-ice players can't see — a player coming off the opposition bench, a line matchup, a shift that has gone too long.

Where two people can see it, both should call it. Redundant information costs nothing. The failure mode you are guarding against is silence, not duplication.

The goalie's calls

In short: Listen to your goalie, who sees what you cannot, and know that "shot" means they have the shooter and you take the pass.

Key: The goalie's view is exactly the view your defencemen lack — the whole play, permanently, for free
Action: Give the retriever "time" or "man on" first, and add the count with "one on you" or "two on you"
Options: "Up" sends it up the strong side, "over" switches it behind the net, "leave it" parks it behind the net for a teammate wheeling through
Convention: Prefer "leave it" to "set" — two syllables are easier to tell from "up" and "over" at speed in a noisy rink
Key: A goalie shouting "shot" means they have the shooter and you take the pass — stay in the passing lane, it is not a warning that a shot is coming
Rule: Under NHL and IIHF rules the goalie may play the puck behind the goal line only inside the trapezoid — markings Rule 1.8 in both books, the two-minute delay of game under NHL 27.8 / 63.2(viii) and IIHF 27.7 / 63.2(VIII) — the only exception the rule writes is skate contact with the crease
Rule: USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have no trapezoid, so behind the net your goalie is a puck-handler — but all six books make any deliberate part in the play past the centre red line a minor, not just playing the puck; their skates test is USA Hockey Casebook 407 Situation 13, Hockey Canada 8.3(a)
Rule: USA Hockey 614(c) makes a goalie's freeze a minor if they had time to play it before being pressured, behind the goal line with their body entirely outside the crease, outside the privileged area, or if they hold it against the frame or boards or intentionally drop it on the back of the netting
Rule: Hockey Canada's Interpretation 3 to 10.1(a) makes a goalie's freeze outside the crease a minor, with no warning — yet its second clause lets a goalie come out to cut the angle and cover the puck after the save, and the book does not say which governs
Rule: In Britain your goalie plays as though IIHF 27.7's trapezoid binds — the Elite League's Casebook does not switch it off, and England Ice Hockey R&R 22.3 (2024-25) "not currently enforced" has unsettled scope and standing; no later In-House edition mentions it
Read: Until your league says otherwise, call it as though it binds — your goalie may not play a puck behind the goal line outside the trapezoid, so "leave it" is only on where the puck is
Action: Answer your goalie — a call that gets no response gets made quieter next time, and then not at all

Your goalie faces the whole play, is stationary, and has nothing behind them — exactly the view your defencemen lack, and none of it reaches them unless it is said.

Why the position is special: the goalie is the only player who faces the whole play all the time, is more or less stationary, and has nothing happening behind them. Every other player has a blind side.

Teams that ignore their goalie's voice concede more, for a mechanical reason. A defenceman retrieving a dumped puck faces the end boards with the forecheck coming from behind — the exact view the goalie has. If the goalie does not pass it on, the defenceman guesses, and a guess there becomes a turnover in the highest-danger area on the ice.

The standard goalie vocabulary:

"Time" — nobody is on you. The retriever can turn, look up, and make a proper play.
"Man on" — someone is on you. Get rid of it. Some goalies use "one on you" or "two on you" to give the count.
"Up" — the puck goes up the strong side, to the winger on the boards. In practice this is usually the defenceman telling the goalie where they want it, and the goalie executing.
"Over" — the puck switches sides, usually behind the net. The weak-side defenceman is calling for it. The goalie can leave the net on either side to make this happen.
"Leave it" — the goalie should stop the puck and leave it behind the net for a teammate to pick up, typically a centre wheeling through. Some teams use "set" instead; there is a good argument for "leave it" because two syllables are easier to distinguish from "up" and "over" at speed, in a noisy rink, with someone wheeling at you.
"I've got it" — the goalie is playing the puck themselves. If you hear it: stay out of their way and get to your breakout position instead of the puck.
"Screen" — I cannot see. Get out of my sightline, or hold your ground beside the screener and lift their stick low on the shaft, well below their bottom hand, as the puck arrives, then let go — never try to walk them out, which can be called interference wherever you play. Nobody else on the ice can know the goalie cannot see, which is why this is the goalie's most important call. See Moving a screener — what the books allow.
"Shot" — a goalie saying "shot" is not warning you a shot is coming. They are telling you they have the shooter and you take the pass — the same split as "I've got the pass / Take the shooter". Published goalie material documents it in exactly that sense: "When the puck is at the point, or when the opposing team has a two-on-one, it can be difficult for your defense to know what you want them to do. If you'd prefer that they take away the pass or guard the open man, call for 'shot!'... If you want the shot, call for it!" A warning tells a skater nothing they can act on; "I have the shooter" tells a defenceman where to put their stick. If you hear it as a defenceman: stay in the passing lane and do not drift toward the puck. If your team uses "shot" as a warning, pick another word for the warning — you have half a second to decode this one.

Where your goalie may play the puck

In short: Know where your book lets your goalie play the puck behind the net, and never call them up past the centre red line.

A constraint that shapes all of this: the trapezoid. Under NHL and IIHF rules the goalie may play the puck behind the goal line only inside the marked trapezoid, unless "maintaining skate contact with" the crease. So "I've got it" and "leave it" are only on where the puck actually is. USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have no trapezoid, so under those books your goalie is a genuine third puck-handler behind the net, which changes their calls and yours completely. ⚠️ Behind the net, and no further: never past the centre red line, in any book (below).

What it costs — the trapezoid. Playing the puck outside it behind the goal line is a two-minute delay of game: markings at Rule 1.8 in both books, the minor at NHL 27.8 and 63.2(viii) and IIHF 27.7 and 63.2(VIII) (the IIHF's 27.8 is a different rule). The USA Hockey Playing Rules 2025-29 and Hockey Canada Playing Rules 2026-2028 mark no restricted area and do not limit where behind the net a goalie plays the puck (USA Hockey 610; Hockey Canada 10.1). The KHL is commonly said to have one, but no KHL rulebook was available to check; the only support is the IIHF's 2021 announcement calling it a "trapezoid familiar to NHL and KHL", which also dates the IIHF's adoption to the 2021/22 season. The NHL's 2005-06 start date is in no rulebook, so it is the commonly given date rather than one checked here.

Never call your goalie up past the centre red line for a loose puck, however clearly it is still on your side. ⚠️ All six books make a goalie's deliberate part in the play beyond that line a minor, in the same operative words — "participates in the play in any manner" (NHL 27.7, IIHF 27.6, USA Hockey 407(c), Hockey Canada 4.13(c), CARHA 37(e), PWHL 27.7). What differs is the measurement: the NHL and IIHF judge it by the puck, while USA Hockey (Casebook Rule 407 Situation 13) and Hockey Canada (Interpretation 2 to 4.13(c); and 8.3(a), a minor for a goalie who "plays the puck with their skates over the centre red line") judge it by the goalie's skates. So that call is legal in the NHL and a minor under both North American amateur books.

"I've got it" is not "I can sit on it." ⚠️ Under USA Hockey 614(c), a goalie who had time to play the puck before being pressured and froze it anyway takes a minor — that is what your "time" call is for, though whether there was time is the referee's judgement. 614(c) also catches a freeze outside the "goalkeeper's privileged" area, behind the goal line with the body "entirely outside of the goal crease", or with the puck held "against any part of the goal frame or boards".

Hockey Canada is stricter outside the crease. Its Interpretation 3 to 10.1(a) makes a freeze after leaving the crease a minor — "No warning will be issued" — and penalises a goalie who "comes out of their crease to beat an attacking player to the puck and simply jumps on the puck". But its second clause lets a goalie come out "to cut down the angle" and, "after stopping the shot, cover the puck", and Hockey Canada does not say which governs a cover after a save outside the crease. Reading the second as the exception is a reading, not a ruling — though it is how the NHL and IIHF print the same pair, the Note to NHL 63.2(vi) and IIHF 63.2(VI) making that cover legal for a goalie who came out to cut the angle. That note covers a save made out front; behind the goal line, your book's own goalie-freeze rule decides.

Never call "move it" at a goalie who has smothered a puck after a save; give them "time" early instead. The NHL, IIHF and PWHL draw the same two lines (NHL 63.2(i) and (vi), IIHF 63.2(I) and (VI), PWHL 65.2(i) and (vi)). How much amateur hockey runs on each book is a question about leagues, and this document has no count for it — find out which you are under. Full detail in Goaltender.

🇬🇧 In Britain, your goalie plays as though the trapezoid binds. The IIHF book carries it (Rule 27.7), and nothing in the Elite League's Casebook switches it off. England Ice Hockey's Rules & Regulations 22.3 (2024-25) call it "not currently enforced", but its scope and standing are unsettled: neither the 2025-26 nor the 2026-27 In-House Rules mention it. When you are attacking, plan for their goalie to come out anyway. Painted lines are a hint, not a ruling: IIHF 27.7 turns on the position of the puck.

And if you talk your goalie into a risky play, remember who pays for it. A goalie is not sent to the penalty box: the minor is served by "another member of the team who was on the ice when the offense was committed", chosen by the coach (USA Hockey 407(a); Hockey Canada 4.13(a) to the same effect). If you made the call you were on the ice, so you are in the pool — and under USA Hockey, as under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL, the one named cannot then be swapped; Hockey Canada and CARHA do not say. USA Hockey's 407 Note still charges the penalty to the goalie in the records.

Answering your goalie

Two things for the skaters. Answer your goalie — a call that gets no response gets made quieter next time, and then not at all. And tell them what you want before you need it: "leave it" works because the centre said it while still in the neutral zone, not while arriving behind the net.

How to call well

Priority: Early beats accurate — a slightly wrong call before the puck arrives beats a perfect one as it does, except "time", which you say only when sure
Priority: Short beats specific — one or two syllables; if your call needs a comma, it is too long
Priority: Loud beats clever — a perfect call at conversational volume did not happen, and that is the commonest reason a call fails
Action: Use names for teammates and numbers for opponents — "Sam, man on" gets acted on, "man on" gets four heads turning
Action: Call while the puck is travelling; once it is on their blade they are already committed
Never: Say "time" unless you are sure — a false "time" puts a teammate into contact unbraced, and they will stop trusting you
Convention: One word, one meaning, all season, across the whole team
Action: Answer calls — "yep", "got it", a raised glove; an unacknowledged switch is two players hoping

The technique of calling matters as much as the vocabulary.

Early beats accurate. A slightly wrong call made before the puck arrives is more useful than a perfect one made as it does. The receiver's decision is already forming; you are trying to inform it, not correct it afterwards.
Short beats specific. One or two syllables. "Man on" survives a noisy rink; "there's a guy coming from behind your left shoulder" does not. If your call needs a comma, it is too long.
Loud beats clever. Rinks are loud, helmets and cages muffle everything, and you are both moving. A perfect call at conversational volume did not happen. This is the single most common reason a call fails.
Use names. "Sam, man on" gets acted on; "man on" gets four players looking around. Numbers work equally well for opponents: "I've got seventeen" is unambiguous in a way that "I've got them" never is.
Call before the puck arrives, not as it does. The window that matters is while the puck is travelling. Once it is on their blade they are already committed.
Keep the vocabulary consistent across the team. One word, one meaning, all season. If half the team says "over" for a cross-ice pass and half says it for "go around the boards", the word is worse than useless.
Say the thing that is true, not the thing that is helpful. If you are not sure whether they have time, do not say "time". A false "time" call puts a teammate into contact they were not braced for, and after one of those they will stop trusting you.
Answer calls. "Yep", "got it", a raised glove — anything. An unacknowledged switch is two players hoping.

Non-verbal communication

In short: Back up your voice with a stick target, eye contact and agreed signals, and never pass blind on a stick tap alone.

Technique: Put your blade flat on the ice in front of your body as a target — a stick held in the air says you are not ready
Risk: All stick taps sound alike, so an opponent can tap and induce a blind pass — use the tap to reinforce a call, never to replace one
Action: Make eye contact before the pass — a tenth of a second confirms they have seen you and are ready
Technique: Look a defender off by staring deliberately at one option and passing to another; defenders read heads and eyes as a shortcut
Action: Point your glove or stick at the space you want a teammate to take, then put the puck there
Convention: Signal faceoff plays and power-play entries rather than speaking them, but only with signals agreed off the ice — never invent one mid-game
Key: Your feet and hips tell a teammate what you are about to do — hips open to the middle says inside, square to the boards says wide

Rinks are loud and sometimes a voice will not carry. Non-verbal cues are the backup, and for some things they are better than words because the opposition can hear you shout.

Stick blade on the ice as a target. The most basic and most reliable one. A blade flat on the ice, out in front of your body, says "pass it here" and gives the passer something to aim at. A stick held in the air says the opposite — that you are not ready. See Passing and Receiving.
Tapping the stick on the ice. The traditional "I'm open" signal, and worth a caution: all stick taps sound alike. An opponent can tap their stick and induce a blind pass straight to them, and at least one coaching resource argues against relying on the tap for exactly that reason. Use it to reinforce a call, not to replace one, and never make a blind pass on a tap alone.
Eye contact before the pass. A tenth of a second of eye contact confirms two things at once — that they have seen you and that they are ready. It is the cheapest turnover-prevention available.
Looking a defender off. The inverse. If you stare at your intended target, so does the defender covering them. Look deliberately at one option, then pass to another. This works because defenders read heads and eyes as a shortcut, the same way a defenceman defending a rush is taught not to — to read the attacker's chest and hips instead, precisely because the head, hands and puck are the tools of deception.
Pointing before you pass. Point your glove or your stick at the space where you want a teammate to go, then put the puck there. Common on breakouts and on the power play, where the passer has a fraction of a second of calm and the receiver is looking up.
Hand signals for set plays. Faceoff plays and power-play entries are often signalled rather than spoken, because the opposition is three feet away. Any signal works as long as it was agreed off the ice. Do not invent one mid-game.
Body position as a signal. Where your feet and hips point tells a teammate what you are about to do before you do it. Opening your hips toward the middle says you are cutting inside; squaring to the boards says you are staying wide. Skilled linemates read this constantly, and it is why players who have played together a long time appear to be telepathic. They are not — they are reading hips.

Building the habit

In short: Talk in every drill, starting with "man on" and "time", and agree one short team vocabulary at the start of the season.

Mindset: The obstacle is social, not tactical — the fear of being wrong, of being loud, of being the only one making noise; it fades with deliberate practice
Action: Talk in every drill, including the ones where it feels stupid; treat a missing call the way you would treat a missed backcheck
Priority: Start with "man on" and "time" and get those automatic before adding anything
Action: Make one player responsible for volume each drill, rotating the job so the quiet players cannot hide behind the loud ones
Action: Name the calls that worked, out loud, afterwards — "that 'over' saved us a turnover"
Action: Agree the vocabulary in the dressing room at the start of the season, not on the ice in game three
Key: Write down one word per meaning — one call carrying two meanings is the classic failure, as with "behind you"
Action: Keep the list to ten or fifteen calls, include the goalie in the conversation, and revisit it about a month in

Almost nobody talks naturally on the ice at first. The obstacle is not tactical, it is social: being loud in front of people is uncomfortable. Newer players in particular are worried about being wrong, about being loud, about being the one person making noise. That is normal, and it fades with deliberate practice. How widespread it is, and how long it takes to fade, have not been counted here — none of the coaching sources this document draws on measures either — so treat both as coaching observation and judge them against your own room.

How to practise it:

Talk in every drill, including the ones where it feels stupid. A three-player passing drill with nobody in the way is exactly where the habit gets built, because you can talk without also thinking. Coaches who accept silence in drills get silence in games. Treat a missing call the same way you would treat a missed backcheck.
Start with the two calls that matter most. Just "man on" and "time". Get those automatic before adding anything.
Make one player responsible for volume each drill. Rotating the job means the quiet players get forced through the awkward stage rather than hiding behind the loud ones.
Talk on the bench too. Players who are engaged verbally on the bench are engaged verbally on the ice. It is the same muscle.
Note the calls that worked, out loud, afterwards. "That 'over' saved us a turnover" does more for a team's willingness to talk than any amount of general encouragement.

How a team agrees a vocabulary:

Agree the vocabulary in the dressing room at the start of the season, not on the ice in game three. Twenty minutes with a whiteboard is enough.
Write down one word per meaning. The commonest source of confusion is two calls for one thing, or worse, one call carrying two meanings — "behind you" meaning both an opponent and a loose puck is the classic.
Keep the list short enough to remember. Ten to fifteen calls covers almost everything. Anything longer will not survive a real game.
Include the goalie in the conversation. Their calls are the ones the defencemen have to act on instantly, and they are the ones most often left out of the discussion.
Revisit it once, about a month in. You will find two calls nobody uses and one situation nobody has a word for.

See Team Play and Culture for the wider point, and Practice and Development for building habits generally.

Common Mistakes

Total silence in the defensive zone. Talk on every shift in your own end — pressure ("man on", "time"), coverage ("switch", "back door", "screen") and the breakout ("wheel", "over", "up"). That is where the information gap is widest and where a lost puck becomes a goal. (Nobody publishes a ranking of amateur communication mistakes, or a count of what gets said on amateur ice. So wherever this document calls something the commonest, the highest-value, the cheapest or usual — anywhere in it — that is coaching observation, not measurement.)
Two players calling for the same puck, both arriving, and neither taking it. Agree a standing rule on priority — usually the player facing up-ice, or the one who called first.
Calling too late to be useful. Call while the puck is still travelling. "Man on" shouted as the hit lands is commentary, not communication.
Nobody calling the switch. Where your team trades on a crossing, the player who wants it says "switch" out loud and the other answers; then each takes the nearer opponent. Otherwise follow your man. Without that, two defenders track one attacker and the other walks in alone.
Assuming a teammate saw what you saw. They did not. Say it anyway — a redundant call costs nothing, and a missed one costs a goal.
The "I thought you had them" goal. Both defenders drawn to the puck, the goalmouth empty, a tap-in. Whoever sees the far post shouts "back door", and the nearer of you leaves the puck and takes that player. Both were working hard — at the same job.
A false "time" call. Only say "time" for space you can actually see; if you are not sure, say nothing. One false "time" sends a teammate into a hit unbraced, and they stop listening to you.
Kicking at the man while going for a puck in your feet. Send the skate at the puck and knock it to your stick — never at an opponent's skates, never at your own blade. ⚠️ Kicking or attempting to kick an opponent can end your game in every book: a match penalty, hurt or not, in five of the six, and under the IIHF a major with an automatic game misconduct at the referee's discretion. A kick shot off your own blade stops play under USA Hockey, is a minor in CARHA, and is a disallowed goal elsewhere. Pressure warnings has the rule text.
Shouting "ice it" on the kill without knowing whether you have the exemption. Find out your book and classification first. ⚠️ USA Hockey grants it only in Youth 15-Only and above, Girls 16U and above, High School and Adult; below those, icing is icing on the kill too — so the shout buys your tired killers a faceoff in front of their own net, over and over. Under the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL the exemption lasts while you are a skater short and ends the instant the penalty that evens the numbers expires, even if your player is still in the box. Under the NHL and PWHL, an empty box when a major expires loses it too.
Aiming a glass clearance at the players' bench. Aim high off the glass and keep it inside the rink. Under IIHF rules a puck that clears the glass and drops into the bench is still a delay-of-game minor; only one shot directly into the bench, where there is no glass, escapes it.
Answering "screen" by walking the screener out of the lane. Hold the ground you already have, do not lean, and lift their stick low on the shaft as the puck arrives, then let go. ⚠️ Moving them can be called interference wherever you play, and where checking is barred an illegal check as well — and in no book is it only a two-minute risk. The same shove can be called under rules that throw you out, checking league or not, and with both hands on the shaft it is a cross-check, whose major ejects you. Under Hockey Canada and CARHA, never lean or push to keep your position, and under CARHA avoid contact you can avoid. If your goalie has left the crease to play the puck, an attacker whose deliberate actions stop them getting back can be called for goaltender interference under NHL, IIHF and PWHL rules without contact — so leave that player to the referee; moving that attacker is interference too. All six books are in Moving a screener — what the books allow.
Calling your goalie up past the centre red line for a loose puck. Do not make that call unless you know your book. ⚠️ Every book makes a goalie's deliberate part in the play beyond that line a minor, and USA Hockey and Hockey Canada judge it by the goalie's skates, not the puck — so a reach back for a puck still on your side is legal on television and two minutes under both North American amateur books. Where your goalie may play the puck has the rule text.
Assuming your goalie serves their own minor. Do not talk your goalie into a risky play on that assumption. A goalie is not sent to the box: a skater who was on the ice serves it, named by the coach. ⚠️ If you made the call you were on the ice, so it can be you — and under USA Hockey, the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL the one named cannot be swapped; Hockey Canada and CARHA do not say.
Making a call and not being available to back it up. If you shout "here", be there.
Using a private vocabulary. Words your team has not agreed are noise. Bring a new call to practice before you shout it in a game.
Talking to the referee instead of to your teammates. Keep your voice for your teammates and get back into the play. Disputing a call is an unsportsmanlike minor in every book (under Hockey Canada, when done in an unsportsmanlike manner or as unwanted discussion with the referee), and keeping at it brings a misconduct or gets you thrown out of the game. Under Hockey Canada the referee may go straight to either without the minor first.

Check yourself

Answer each question before you go on — a real attempt, not a guess. Then go and check, because the checking is the part that does the work. Producing an answer and getting it wrong is worth more than recognising a right one, but only when the right answer follows: the section named with each question, and the Key Takeaways after them, are where you get it. Where the answer lives in another document, that is named too.

You shout "man on" to a teammate retrieving the puck near your own wall. One thing in that entry outranks everything else in it — what is it, and what exactly should their body be doing? (§Pressure warnings)
Your goalie shouts "shot" as the opposition come at you two-on-one. What are they telling you to do — and what are they not telling you? (§The goalie's calls)
"Rim" and "reverse" are opposite plays chosen off the same read. What is the read, and which kind of forechecker does each one beat? (§Puck direction)
Someone shouts "ice it" while you are killing a penalty. What are you buying, what might you be giving up, and what would you need to know about your rule set before that call becomes a habit? (§Puck direction)
A defenceman shouts "sag". Under which defensive-zone coverage does that call mean nothing at all, under which does it apply only above the dots, and what should you therefore have found out before the season started? (§Danger and coverage)
This document gives three priorities for how to make a call, each in the form "X beats Y". Name all three, and say which one it calls the single most common reason a call fails. (§How to call well)
Four calls in this document are flagged as carrying two meanings at once — and not one of them is a single word. Name three of the four and say what the document suggests doing about each. Then name the two bench phrases it tells you not to press into service for a new meaning, because both are already taken. (§Pressure warnings, §Puck direction, §Support and availability, §The goalie's calls, §Bench and line changes)
Who makes a call, and who does not? State the organising principle in one line, then name two of the standing responsibilities that sit on top of it. (§Who owns which call)

Key Takeaways

Nobody publishes a ranking of amateur communication mistakes or a count of what gets said on amateur ice, so where a takeaway calls something the commonest, the highest-value, the cheapest or usual, that is coaching observation.

The puck carrier is the least informed player on the ice. Everyone else can see their blind side, and passing that on costs nothing.
"Man on" and "time" are the two highest-value words in hockey. One prevents a turnover, the other a panic — say "time" only when you are sure. At the wall, called or not, never turn your back to anyone coming at you, after the puck or not, and never duck — head up, chin off your chest.
The player who can see it makes the call — not the captain, not the most senior player.
Going back for a dumped puck, listen for your goalie before you touch it. They see what is behind you: "time" or "man on" from them, then your partner's "up" or "over". Shoulder-check as you go — and goalies, make the call every time.
Early beats accurate, short beats specific, loud beats clever. A perfect call at conversational volume did not happen. The exception is "time": say it only when you are sure, because a false one sends a teammate into a hit unbraced.
Use names and numbers. "Sam, man on" gets acted on. "Man on" gets four heads turning.
Agree the vocabulary as a team: one word, one meaning, all season. A receiver who has to translate has already lost the half-second.
Answer every call. An unacknowledged switch is two players hoping, and hoping is how the back door scores.
Never call a pass across the front of your own net. Send "over" and "D-to-D" behind the goal line, or high above the circles if that is your team's route — never through the slot. Ask which your team uses.
Non-verbal cues back up words, they don't replace them. A stick blade on the ice is a target; a stick tap is anyone's, including your opponent's.
The loudest team usually looks like the more skilled team — and talking needs no fitness, no skill work and no extra ice.
On "feet" or "under", kick the puck, never the man. ⚠️ Kicking at an opponent ends your game in five books (a match penalty, hurt or not) and can in the IIHF, as a discretionary major plus game misconduct. Never kick your own blade: that kick shot stops play in USA Hockey, is a CARHA minor and scores no goal elsewhere.
Shorthanded, "ice it" buys a rest only where your book exempts you. USA Hockey exempts only Youth 15-Only and up, Girls 16U and up, High School and Adult; below those, it buys a faceoff in your end. Under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL it ends when the penalty that evens the numbers expires, even with your player still in the box.
On "screen", hold your ice without leaning or pushing, and lift their stick low on the shaft as the puck arrives, then let go. ⚠️ Never walk them out: it can be called interference wherever you play, and a hard shove can end your game in every book. Two hands on the shaft makes it a cross-check, whose major ejects you.
Do not call your goalie past the centre red line for a loose puck without knowing your book. Every book makes a goalie's play past it a minor; USA Hockey and Hockey Canada judge it by the goalie's skates, the NHL, IIHF and PWHL by the puck.
If you talk your goalie into a minor, you may be the one who serves it. The coach names a teammate who was on the ice — and if you made the call, you were.
Clearing under pressure, aim high off the glass and keep it in the rink — never at the players' bench. Under IIHF rules a puck that clears the glass and drops into the bench is still a minor.

A note on which calls are documented. Fifteen of the calls taught here are in common spoken use, but none of the sources this document draws on documents them as verbal calls. They are: turn, eat it, with you, outlet, net front, sag / collapse, odd man, I'm high, I've got F1, my man / I've got them, pick them up / take the middle, I've got the pass / take the shooter, I've got first player off, stay, and next shift.

Two qualifications on those undocumented calls. First, outlet, net front, sag, collapse and odd man are all well documented as standard hockey terms — they appear throughout the coaching literature and elsewhere in this guide as names for positions, shapes and situations. What is unverified is only their use as something a player shouts.

Second, these calls are corroborated in the sources and are not flagged as undocumented. Stretch, over and here are on Sweden coach Sam Hallam's list of what his players shout, quoted by NHL.com; he also lists "Open!", which this document does not carry as a separate call. For two-on-one / three-on-two, ReasonY gives the short numeric forms "Two" and "One", noted inline. Wheel, reverse, time, man on and middle are on the BVHS goalie manual's "phrases and what they mean" list, which also documents "bank". The call "half wall" is not on that list: it appears in a separate list of "key communication phrases goaltenders can use" in the same manual's Playing The Puck section, alongside "leaving it", "reverse", "wheel" and "bank".

Sportmentary documents man on, time, screen, ice it, dump and leave it, and the goalie's shot word for word, in the same sense this document gives it. Up, over and leave it come from Kelvin Cech's goalie breakout calls, also the source for the two-syllable argument. Rim, clear, back, back door, chip, deep / dump, far side, feet / under, one on / two on, all alone and screen are on the Chicks with Sticks call list.

For the rest, the concepts are standard and sourced elsewhere in this guide; it is only the specific wording that is unverified — which is the main point of this document anyway: the words are conventions, and yours may differ.

Sources — retrieved 27 July 2026

Call vocabulary: Chicks with Sticks Hockey – Hockey Vocabulary (On-Ice Communications) — the most complete published call list available, organised by who says each call · Coach Chic – Voice of the Bench: Communicating Under Pressure on the Ice — a general essay on communicating under pressure; it names no individual calls (read 1 September 2026) · Athlenow – How to Improve Team Communication on the Ice · Fusion Hockey – On-Ice Communication — source for the caution against relying on stick taps

Goaltender calls: The Coaches Site – Goalie Breakout Calls (Kelvin Cech) — source for "up", "over" and "leave it", and the two-syllable argument · ReasonY – Goalie/Defense Communication (Michal Ondrasek) — note this is a ball-hockey coaching post, not ice hockey; the calls quoted from it transfer · Ice Hockey Systems – Breakout Communication Drill — weak-side defenceman reads the second forechecker and makes the call · Sportmentary – Ice Hockey Goalie: Communication Tips — source for the goalie's "shot" call on a two-on-one, and for "man on", "time" / "space", "watch left", "screen" / "screen slot", "backdoor" / "high slot", "dump" / "ice it", "you've got time" / "leave it", "play it" and "send it" as spoken calls · BVHS Goalie Coaches Tactics and Skill Development Resource Guide, updated May 2026 (PDF) — its "phrases and what they mean" list documents "wheel", "reverse", "time", "man on", "middle" and "bank" as spoken calls

Building the habit: USA Hockey ADM – Teaching Effective Communication at 12U · Hockey's Arsenal – Developing an Ice Hockey Team's Communication · Swift Hockey – The Art of Effective Communication on the Ice · Minnesota Hockey – 4 Tips for In-Game Communication

Faceoff and line-change communication: Ice Hockey Systems – 10 Offensive Zone Faceoff Plays · Hockey's Arsenal – A Deep Dive Into Hockey Line Changes

The safety override on "man on": USA Hockey — Heads Up Hockey Program Guide (PDF) — "How spinal injuries happen in hockey", for cervical flexion straightening the spine's natural curve and for the finding that almost all on-ice cervical spine injuries have come from the head being slightly flexed while making head-on contact with the boards or goal post; and, under its "Checking from behind" subheading, for the hazard of the turned back — "Even a light hit from behind could inflict a severe head or neck injury", carried in the same words by USA Hockey's Introduction To Body Contact at its §5 "Checking From Behind", both strings located in the extracted text on 3 September 2026. ⚠️ Note the division of labour between those two quotations, which is why this document states them as two separate limbs rather than one: the cervical-flexion finding is about a head-down, head-first collision, and USA Hockey does not say it about turning your back; the hazard of the turned back is that it makes the contact a hit from behind, which is the sentence quoted for that. That finding is a restatement, not USA Hockey's own research: the page credits "research done among a wide range of hockey players" and prints the citation under it — Charles H. Tator et al., Spinal Injuries Due To Hockey, Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences 11:34–41 — which has not been read in the original here, only the USA Hockey page reproducing it and the paper's own published abstract. That abstract does not carry the quantifier: the paper is indexed as a case report and describes six patients treated at a single Toronto unit between 1974 and 1981, so "almost all" is USA Hockey's characterisation of the research rather than that paper's finding. Body Contact and Battles carries the larger studies that do bear on it. And it ranks nothing. It was searched in full on 31 August 2026, alongside USA Hockey's Introduction To Body Contact, its Playing Rules and Casebook, the CARHA rule book and the UK grassroots concussion guidelines, for any ranking of hockey's injuries or its situations by seriousness or danger — there is none in any of them. The one frequency statement the guide does make is about frequency and not seriousness, and it does not stop where a half-quotation leaves it: "⁠[i]n hockey, concussions are not the most common form of injury, but the[y] require your attention for two important reasons" — the missing letter is the guide's own. So the claim supported here is about a posture and a collision, not a ranking. Body Contact and Battles carries the fuller treatment.

Rules: NHL Official Rules 2025-2026 (PDF) (Rule 56.1 Interference — Body Position, for the ice a player is allowed to stand on, Rule 59.2 Cross-checking (with 59.3, the major for the same act at the Referee's discretion, 59.4 the match penalty, and 59.5, under which "an automatic game misconduct penalty shall be imposed on the offending player" whenever a cross-checking major is assessed), Rule 63.2(iii) Delaying the Game — puck out of play from the defending zone, and 63.2(i), the minor for holding or freezing the puck to cause a stoppage, behind the "eat it" entry alongside IIHF 63.2(I), PWHL 65.2(i), USA Hockey 632(b) ("holds or freezes the puck along the boards or goal frame in any manner"), Hockey Canada's item i of 10.1 and CARHA 74(b), the last two excusing it "unless they are being checked by an opponent" (though Hockey Canada 6.12(b), on making the puck unplayable "in order to gain a stoppage of play", and CARHA 55(a) and its Note 2, a bench minor for deliberate delay "in any manner" that names "freezing the puck", carry no such exception), Rule 69.1 Interference on the Goalkeeper, Rules 74.1 / 74.2 Too Many Men on the Ice, read 31 August 2026 — 74.1's "within five feet (5') of his players' bench and out of the play before the change is made", matched at 1.50m by IIHF Rule 74.1, against Hockey Canada Rule 6.1(a)'s "at the Players' Bench (within 3.05m (10 ft.)) and out of play" and USA Hockey Rule 204(b), which writes no distance at all and adds the trigger "or causes their team to gain a competitive advantage" — applied at USA Hockey Casebook Rule 204, Situation 8 to a change that turns a 2-on-1 against into a 2-on-2, Rule 76 Face-offs, Rule 81 Icing (including Rule 81.6, read 14 September 2026 for its expiry test in both directions — "determined at the instant the penalty expires" against "⁠[s]hould the puck be released from the stick of the player shooting the puck down the ice prior to the penalty expiring, the icing infraction shall not apply" — and for the major-penalty/empty-penalty-bench carve-out, which that rule carries and no other icing rule read here does), and Rule 20.3 Major Penalties – Substitution, read 14 September 2026 as the deferral that creates that carve-out: a substitute need only be placed on the penalty bench "at a stoppage of play prior to the expiration of the major penalty", and a team that misses that deadline has to "continue playing one player short (but not officially considered short-handed)", Rule 82.1 Line Change, Rule 83 Off-side, Rule 87.1 Time-outs, Rule 1.8 Goalkeeper's Restricted Area markings, Rules 27.8 / 63.2(viii) restricted-area penalty, and Rule 61.1 Slashing, the route to a penalty for a stick at the hands that Rule 55.1 does not reach, read with 55.3, 61.3 and 61.5 — the hooking major requiring that the player "injures an opponent" where the slashing major turns on "the severity of the contact", and 61.5 imposing the ejection: "Whenever a major penalty is assessed for slashing, a game misconduct penalty must also be imposed") · USA Hockey Official Playing Rules 2025-29 (PDF) — the Preface's Standardized Discipline Policy – Match Penalties, read 19 October 2026, which lists Rule 602(a) at Level 1 with "a recommended range of a 6-10 game suspension"; Rule 624(b)(1), read 14 September 2026 for the classification restriction on the shorthanded icing exemption and for the same expiry test in both directions — the team must be short "when the puck is shot", with "⁠[t]he determination is made at the time the penalty expires and if the puck was shot prior to the penalty time expiration, regardless as to the position of the penalized player, no icing shall be called"; Rule 624 was also read end to end that day for any empty-penalty-bench limb of the kind NHL Rule 81.6 carries, of which it has none, Rule 636(f), which attaches no icing condition to its 60-second time-out, Rule 601, the tiers above the delay-of-game minor once the whistle has gone — 601(a)(4), an unsportsmanlike minor for a player who "⁠[s]hoots the puck after the whistle, if in the opinion of the Official such shot was avoidable"; 601(c)(10), a misconduct for a player who "shoots or bats the puck outside of the playing area during a stoppage of play (when not done in protest of an official's decision or in the direction of a spectator)"; and 601(d)(7), a game misconduct where the same act is "done in protest of an official's decision" — read with Rule 601's opening Note, which says only that "A minor penalty or misconduct penalty should be assessed for actions that occur on the playing surface or in the penalty bench area" and so leaves the overlap with 610(c) unresolved, and Rule 610(c), which reaches only a "deliberately shooting or batting the puck outside the playing area" and writes no defending-zone strict-liability limb of any kind, read with Rule 631(d), which sends an accidental puck out of play to "a last play face-off" rather than to a penalty, and Rule 625(b), whose first sentence is a mandatory neutral-zone face-off "any time an attacking player stands, holds their stick, or skates through the goal crease" on three conditions, and whose second is the flat bar on a goal with an attacking player in the goal crease, whoever scored, subject to two carve-outs — the puck preceding the player in, or the goalkeeper being out of the crease area, the second of which the separate USA Hockey Casebook narrows at Rule 625, Situation 9, disallowing the goal and assessing an interference penalty where the goalkeeper is returning to the crease and is prevented from making a play — with a third paragraph relieving an attacker whom a defending player's physical interference put in the crease; read in full for a goaltender-screening or goaltender-vision provision, of which it has none — its one "protective screen", at 625(a)(1), is a screen set on a checker, not on a goaltender — and Rules 604(a) and 604(c), the Competitive Contact classifications and the minor for body checking in them, with 604(d) and 604(e) above it — a major plus game misconduct for recklessly endangering an opponent, and a match penalty — Rule 609, whose (b) assesses "a major plus a game misconduct penalty" for cross-checking that recklessly endangers an opponent and whose (c) reaches a match penalty, Rule 623 Hooking, whose Note counts among the hooking actions "a stick placed on the hand/arm that takes away the ability for the opponent to pass or shoot the puck with a normal amount of force", and Rule 634 Slashing, whose Note — "Any forceful chop with the stick on an opponent's body or opponent's stick, on or near the opponent's hands, shall be considered slashing" — carries no "attempt to play the puck" let-out, read with the tiers above the minor: 623(b) — "A major plus game misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any player who recklessly endangers an opponent as a result of hooking" — and 634(b), that sentence again for slashing, neither of which requires an injury; Rule 630(a) Offside, whose test is that a player is offside "when the player does not have skate contact with any part of the Neutral Zone or the blue line when the puck crosses the determining edge of the blue line", with its Note that "⁠[a] player only needs to have skate contact with one skate with the blue line to be considered 'onside'"; and Rule 614(c), the delay-of-game minor for a goalkeeper who falls on or gathers the puck into their body and causes a stoppage, on four triggers of which (1) is "⁠[t]he puck is behind the goal line and their body is entirely outside of the goal crease" and (3) is "⁠[t]he puck is outside the boundaries of the 'goalkeeper's privileged' area" · USA Hockey Official Rules and Casebook 2025-29 (PDF) — all seventeen situations under Rule 625, read for a screening or goaltender-vision provision, of which they have none, and among them Situation 9, which limits 625(b)'s goalkeeper-out carve-out: "if the goalkeeper is attempting to return to the goal crease and there is any interference by the attacking player who prevents the goalkeeper from making a play, then the goal must be disallowed and an interference penalty shall be assessed" · Hockey Canada Playing Rules 2026-2028 (PDF) — Rule 11.1 Unsportsmanlike Conduct, item (v) of whose non-exhaustive list is "Shooting the puck out of the playing area, after the whistle", made "a Minor or Bench Minor penalty" by 11.1(a) and a Misconduct by 11.1(d)(i) where the player persists — whose own Note 1 adds that "⁠[a] Referee is not required to assess a Minor penalty under this rule before assessing a Misconduct penalty, but may assess either penalty initially", so the Minor is not a step the referee must take first — read with Rule 10.1(d) — "No Misconduct penalty may be assessed for Delay of Game" — which is why Hockey Canada writes the after-the-whistle case outside its delay-of-game rule, Rule 8.5 Interference with the Goaltender, whose crease bar is not flat — its Goal Crease Area paragraph allows a teammate's goal where the player in the crease "does not attempt to play the puck, interfere with the play or obstruct the Goaltender's view or movements" — and Interpretation 3 to 8.5(a), the goaltender-vision test USA Hockey has no counterpart to; its only two references to a goaltender's view both reach a player in the crease, and Rule 7.3(a), the minor for bumping, shoving or pushing, read with the scope Rule 7.3's own opening sets — "divisions of U13 and below, in female hockey, and any other divisions approved by a Member of Hockey Canada" — and with 7.3(b) above it — a major and game misconduct at the Referee's discretion on the degree of violence, and mandatory where the check injures — and 7.3(c) above that, a match penalty for a player who "deliberately attempts to or deliberately injures an opponent by body-checking", and Rule 8.1 Holding, which permits an arm used in a strength move by a player who has body position, Rule 9.2(e), under which a Game Misconduct "must be assessed any time a Major penalty is assessed for cross-checking", and Rule 8.2(a) Interpretation 1, the stick lift allowed for the puck but penalised where it contacts the hands, Rule 6.7, read end to end 14 September 2026 — for any empty-penalty-bench limb of the kind NHL Rule 81.6 carries, of which it has none, and at 6.7(b), which withholds icing where the shooting team is below strength "at the instant the puck is shot", with its Note 1 — "A team will no longer be considered shorthanded once the penalty time expires, irrespective of whether or not the penalized player has left the Penalty Bench" — and with Interpretation 3 to Rule 6.7(b), which is the sentence that shows Note 1 is a head count rather than a switch: the player whose time is up "is considered to have completed their penalty and is on the ice, for the purpose of equal numbers (or not)", the parenthesis being what settles the 5-on-3; read with Interpretation 2 to Rule 6.7(b), "The determining factor is based on the numerical strength at the instant the puck is shot"; and Rule 10.1 Delay of Game, whose clauses (a)–(e) place no limit on where a goaltender may play the puck — Hockey Canada marks no trapezoid — read with Interpretation 3 to Rule 10.1(a), clause v, which does restrict them: once a goaltender leaves the crease "they will not be allowed to freeze the puck. If they do, they will be assessed a Minor penalty. No warning will be issued." read in turn with clause ii, which permits a goaltender to come out "to cut down the angle and catch the shot or, after stopping the shot, cover the puck", the book not saying which of the two governs a cover made after a save outside the crease · IIHF Official Rule Book 2025/26 (PDF) — Rule 87.1, which imposes the post-icing time-out ban in the NHL's own words, Rule 81.6, read 14 September 2026, whose second paragraph is the NHL's expiry test in the NHL's words bar a capital P on Player and quotation marks round "icing", and which writes no major-penalty/empty-penalty-bench paragraph of any kind, and Rule 81.4, which imposes the substitution ban but not in the NHL's words: it lists a fourth exception the NHL rule lacks, "a Player with a broken skate", unchanged in the 2026/27 edition — read against IIHF Rule 82.1, which states the same post-icing ban and lists only the NHL's three, in both editions, so the fourth exception is not consistent within the IIHF book itself and neither book resolves it, Rule 1.8, whose "Goalkeeper Designated Area" is "6.80m" along the goal line and "8.60m" at the boards, with Rule 27.7 — not the NHL's 27.8, which in the IIHF book is "Infractions – Unique to Goalkeepers" — and Rule 63.2(VIII), the same two-minute delay of game "On a goalkeeper who plays the puck outside of the designated area behind the net", all three unchanged in the 2026/27 edition, Rule 63.2(III), which carries the NHL's defending-zone puck-out-of-play minor in the same terms — its "except where there is no protective glass" and its bench clause reading "surrounding" where the NHL's reads "behind" — with 63.2(II), the deliberate limb from anywhere on the ice, both unchanged in the 2026/27 edition, and Rule 101.1, which sits in the book's Women's Hockey section and is a women's-hockey rule, not a general one, Rule 56.1, which carries the NHL's body-position clause in the general book rather than in the women's section, and Rule 55.1, the only one of the four to state the hands limb inside its hooking definition — and whose very next sentence exempts contact that is stick-to-stick only "when a Player is checking another", a tension the book does not resolve and no interpretation held here settles — with Rule 61.1, which reproduces the NHL's slashing hands sentence word for word, and Rule 59.3, which bundles the major and an automatic game misconduct into one clause and gates both on reckless endangerment, IIHF Rule 59 writing no match penalty, and Rule 69.1, which carries the NHL's premise and both grounds but adds a sentence the NHL's Rule 69 has not got anywhere in 69.1 to 69.8 — the referee's "possibility to stop the game" where an attacking Player "is in the goal crease and does not leave immediately", with the face-off at the nearest neutral zone spot · IIHF Official Rule Book 2026/27 (Version 1.0, June 2026) (PDF) — the edition behind every "unchanged in the 2026/27 edition" note above, read on 29 August 2026, and 81.6 on 14 September 2026, for Rules 1.8, 27.7, 63.2(II), 63.2(III), 63.2(VIII), 81.4, 81.6, 82.1, 87.1 and 69.1's crease-stoppage sentence only, each of which is word-for-word as the 2025/26 book has it. No other IIHF citation in this document has been checked against that edition · IIHF Situation Handbook 2025/26 — Version 1.1, August 2025 (PDF) and IIHF Situation Handbook 2026/27 — Version 1.0, June 2026 (PDF) — both read for Situations 63.24, 63.28 and 63.3, which are put in the same words in the two editions. 63.24 still assesses the minor where a clear goes over the glass and lands in the Players' Bench — "the determining factor… is where the puck leaves the playing surface", judged on "an imaginary plane that continues upwards to the roof from the top of the glass" — exempting only a puck "shot directly into the Players' Bench (where there is no glass)"; 63.28 makes the glove scoop over the glass behind the players' bench a minor, "considered shooting or batting the puck with the hand resulting in the puck leaving the playing surface"; 63.3 assesses none where the puck "clears the glass at a point in the Penalty Bench where the glass is lower than the normal height around the rink". The Handbook's Foreword ranks it below the Rulebook — "in case of any contradictions, the valid IIHF Rulebook is always the basis" · IIHF – New Rule Book for global game — the IIHF's own announcement, 5 June 2021, that it would "introduce a new Rule Book for the 2021/22 season", listing among the rules to be integrated "A restricted area for goalkeepers behind the net to create more offensive play (i.e. trapezoid familiar to NHL and KHL)". It is the source for the IIHF's 2021/22 adoption date, and the only support held here for the KHL — a governing body's aside rather than a KHL rule, and no KHL rulebook was available to check against. Nothing held here dates the NHL's own adoption; the NHL book gives no date in Rules 1.8, 27.8 or 63.2(viii).

The fifth book on moving a screener — CARHA Hockey Official Rule Book 2026 (PDF), read 7 September 2026 in the 2020 printing, every rule cited here being unchanged in the 2026 book: Rule 49 (Boarding and Body Contact) — 49(a), the minor or major "based upon the intent and the violence of the impact" on a player who "intentionally bodies, pushes, shoves, stands in front of an opponent for the purpose of making contact, and/or does not avert body contact with an opponent", with the major mandatory "⁠[w]hen injury results from intentional body contact"; and 49(c), "⁠[w]here, in the opinion of the Referee, accidental contact has taken place, no penalty shall be assessed." Rule 66 (Interference/Protection of the Goalkeeper) — 66(a)(1), the minor or, at the referee's discretion, major and game misconduct on a player who "interferes with or impedes the progress of an opponent who is not in possession of the puck", and its Note 2, which is CARHA's counterpart to the body-position permission the other books write: "Often the action and movement of the attacking player causes the interference, since the defending players are entitled to 'stand their ground' or 'shadow' the attacking players." ⚠️ It sits in the interference rule rather than in a body-position clause, and CARHA carries no equivalent of the NHL's and the IIHF's "allowed the ice he is standing on" sentence or of USA Hockey's Note to 604(c) — the phrases "body position", "standing on", "not required to move", "established position", "hold their ground", "legal body contact" and "competitive contact" all return zero from the book, searched in full including across line breaks, and Note 2 was found by searching "entitled to" instead. What is claimed is that none was found under those terms, not that none exists. Rule 63 (Holding) and Rule 64 (Hooking) were read for the stick lift: 63(a) reaches a player who "holds an opponent with the hands, stick or in any other manner" and 64(a) one who "impedes or seeks to impede the progress of an opponent by hooking with their stick", and the book writes no "at or near the hands" sentence of the kind IIHF 55.1, USA Hockey 623 and Hockey Canada 8.2(a) carry — ⚠️ so the conclusion that a clean lift below the bottom hand is not reached there is a reading of those two short rules, not an interpretation CARHA publishes. ⚠️ The book governs CARHA-affiliated leagues only and is not a rec-hockey standard; how much adult recreational hockey runs on it is a question about leagues rather than about books, and this document has no count for it. Read in the same book on 22 September 2026 for the kick shot: Rule 68 (Kick Shot) — "A Minor penalty shall be assessed to any player, except a goalkeeper, who uses a kick shot during the game." — with the book’s Definitions writing one as "made by placing the blade of the stick behind the puck and then propelling the puck by kicking the stick", and Rule 69 (Kicking the Puck), which permits it "in all zones" but provides that "⁠[t]his action cannot result in a goal being scored." USA Hockey’s own kick-shot clause is at Rule 627(c) in the Official Playing Rules 2025-29, applied at Rule 627, Situation 6 of the Casebook, both read 22 September 2026.

Face-off violations (the §Faceoffs section): read in the primary texts on 2 September 2026 and quoted from them. NHL Rule 76.6 — where a player other than the draw-taker "moves into the face-off circle prior to the dropping of the puck, then the offending team’s player taking the face-off shall be ejected from the face-off circle. This shall be considered a face-off violation" — with Rule 76.7, whose second paragraph is printed "When a least two face-off violations have been committed by the same team during the same face-off, this team shall be penalized with a bench minor penalty to the offending team" ("a least" is the book’s own typo, quoted as printed), and whose summary list makes hash-mark encroachment a face-off violation at (ii) without saying the centre goes. ⚠️ The warning shape belongs to Rule 76.4, and it is a carve-out rather than the NHL’s general position. 76.4 produces a warning in two places: for a centre who arrives late on a draw "as a result of an icing infraction", who "shall not be removed" but is warned, and more broadly at "When an icing infraction occurs, the first face-off violation by either team will not result in the center being removed… any subsequent violation by that team will result in a bench minor penalty for delay of game - face-off violation being assessed." (Rule 76.7 adds a third warning, once per game, for players "late to the face-off location and therefore in an offside position".) So off an icing the NHL warns; off anything else 76.6 ejects the centre with no warning at all. The IIHF 2026/27 book reproduces both 76.4 paragraphs; its 2025/26 v1.1 book has neither, and USA Hockey writes no icing carve-out — searched in full across its Playing Rules and its Casebook on 2 September 2026, and there is none in either. IIHF Rule 76.6 in both editions: the 2025/26 v1.1 book has the offending team "receive a warning for a 'face-off' violation" where a player other than the draw-taker "moves into the face-off circle prior to the dropping of the puck", while the 2026/27 book replaces that sentence with "the offending team's player taking the face-off shall be ejected from the face-off circle". IIHF 76.7's bench minor for a second violation is in both. USA Hockey Rule 613(d) — "If a player, other than the player facing off, fails to maintain their proper position, the center of their team shall be ejected from the face-off. A second violation of any of the provisions of this subsection by the same team during the same face-off shall result in a minor penalty for delay of game being assessed to the player committing the second violation" — so USA Hockey ejects the centre as the NHL does but prices the second violation on the individual rather than the bench, and reaches the hash marks the NHL’s 76.7(ii) leaves alone — Rule 613(b) requiring every other player to be "behind the hash marks on the outer edge of the face-off circle", and the USA Hockey Casebook, Rule 613, Situations 9 and 10, which split the watching between the two Linespersons and give both the same remedy — Situation 10, on the players in front: "For the first offense, the Linesperson will blow their whistle and signal which center(s) shall be removed", and Situation 9 the same sentence for the back Linesperson and the players behind. Casebook Situation 8 is stricter still than the NHL on the same line: a stick between the hash marks is a violation, because "⁠[b]oth players must be completely behind their respective hash marks. This includes all sticks and all skates", where NHL 76.7(ii) permits the stick there absent contact. The IIHF Situation Handbook confirms the edition split from the officiating side: its Situation 76.21 has the centre "warned" in the 2025/26 v1.1 Handbook and "removed" in the 2026/27 one, for the same encroachment into the face-off circle. IHUK In-House Rules 2026-27, Section 10, Rule 76 — "With the exception of face-offs following icings, the linesperson shall immediately replace the centre for all violations." Hockey Canada Rule 6.2(e) and CARHA Rule 57(d), both read 15 September 2026 and covering the second violation only — nothing else in either book's face-off rule was read for this document. Hockey Canada's 6.2(e) has two paragraphs and they are not alike: the first provides that a team committing a second violation of any of the provisions of (a) to (d) during the same face-off "may be assessed a Minor penalty by the Referee under Rule 10.1 (viii) – Delay of Game", while the second, where "the offending player subsequently contacts the Linesperson before the Linesperson has had reasonable time to vacate the face-off location", says the team "will be assessed a Minor penalty by the Referee under Rule 10.1 (a) – Delay of Game" — note that the two paragraphs route to different sub-clauses of Rule 10.1 as well as differing on discretion. CARHA Rule 57(d): "A team committing a second violation of any of the provisions of Section (a) during the same face-off may be assessed a Minor penalty for 'face-off violation' by the Referee" — discretionary, and scoped to Section (a) alone, which is the positioning, off-side, contact and encroachment paragraph. Faceoffs carries the comparison across all of the books.

The British layer on the trapezoid: IHUK In-House Rules 2026-27, Revision 1 (published 25 July 2026) (PDF) — the current British document, adopted by IHUK and the British Universities Ice Hockey Association for "England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (the Home Countries)" · IHUK In-House Rules 2025-26, Revision 1 (published 27/10/25) (PDF) — superseded, and scoped only to England and Scotland. Both editions were searched for the goalkeeper's restricted area on 30 August 2026 and neither mentions it — neither amends Rule 27 at all, and both close their Introduction "Unless otherwise stated, all rules will be enforced in line with the IIHF Rule Book." · England Ice Hockey Rules & Regulations 2024-2025 (PDF) — Rule 22.3, which says of the goalkeepers' restricted area that it is "not currently enforced to allow ice rinks the necessary time to make the changes to implement this rule", read with Rule 1.1, which makes England Ice Hockey the National Governing Body "in England and Wales" and so sets how far 22.3 reaches. Whether that suspension still stands is not resolved by anything published, and no IHUK Rule Bulletin has been obtained here.

Disputing a call (Common Mistakes), read in the primary texts on 18 October 2026: NHL, IIHF and PWHL Rule 39 — 39.2, a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct on "⁠[a]ny player who challenges or disputes the ruling of an official" (the NHL’s wording), 39.4 a misconduct and 39.5 a game misconduct for persisting; USA Hockey Rule 601(a)(1), the same minor, with "⁠[a] misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any player who persists in such conduct and any further dispute by the same player shall result in a game misconduct penalty"; Hockey Canada Rule 11.1, items (i) "⁠[c]hallenging or disputing an official’s decision in an unsportsmanlike manner" and (vi) "⁠[e]ngaging in any inappropriate or unwanted discussion with the referee", a minor under 11.1(a), a misconduct under 11.1(d) and a game misconduct under 11.1(e), whose Notes 1 say the Referee is not required to assess the lesser penalty first; CARHA Rule 46(a), "a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, followed by a misconduct or game misconduct if they persist", with 46(b)(2) a misconduct for a player who "persists in disputing".

Regional variation: NHL.com – 4 Nations Face-Off gives European players chance to speak native languages — source for Gustav Nyquist on differing coaching terminology, and for Sweden coach Sam Hallam's list of the words his players actually shout on the ice ("Over! Over!" "Here! Here!" "Open! Open!" "Stretch!"), which is also the citation for "stretch" as a documented spoken call. No source gives a call-by-call North American/European comparison, so that section is deliberately kept general — and note that the one piece of direct evidence available points to English being the shouted language at that level regardless of nationality.

Women’s professional — the fifth book behind the icing, screening, kicking and offside passages: PWHL Official Rule Book 2025-2026 (PDF), read 23 September 2026. The PWHL renumbers against the NHL from Rule 52 on, so the NHL’s 56, 81, 82, 87 and 83 are its 57, 83, 84, 89 and 85. Rule 57.1 grants a player "the ice she is standing on (body position)" and is "not required to move in order to let an opponent proceed"; 57.2(i) makes it a minor to impede "an opponent who is not in possession of the puck". Rule 83.4 bars substitutions for a team in violation of the icing rule and permits only three — a goalkeeper substituted for an extra attacker, an injured player, or a penalty affecting on-ice strength — with no broken-skate limb of the kind the IIHF adds. Rule 83.6 carries the NHL 81.6 paragraph barring icing to a team short by a major with no player on the penalty bench to exit at its expiry: "they will continue to play short–handed but are not permitted to ice the puck. Icing will be called." Rule 89.1: "No time-out shall be granted to the defensive Team following an icing". Rule 85.1 keeps a player onside while "either of her skates are in contact with the blue line, or on her own side of the line", so a lifted trail skate is onside there as it is in the NHL and IIHF. Rule 49 keeps the NHL’s number, being before the renumbering: 49.2 writes "A goal cannot be scored by an attacking player who kicks any equipment (stick, glove, helmet, etc.) at the puck, including kicking the blade of her own stick, causing the puck to cross the goal line", and 49.2(iii) allows the goal "when an attacking player kicks the puck, and the puck deflects off her own stick and then into the net"; the book writes no kick-shot whistle or penalty — the phrase "kick shot" is not in it, and Rule 49 runs only to a definition, the goal bar, the match penalty at 49.3 and supplementary discipline at 49.4. Read 24 September 2026.