Special Teams

Key focus

Make one killer cover two of you. The extra skater is worth nothing until it does. Create two-on-ones anywhere, and cash them in near the net — one at the net front is a near-certain chance, one at the top of the zone is a shot from distance.

Move the puck with passes, and look for the second one. A kill can cover one option, not three in two seconds: the first pass moves them, the second arrives where they no longer are. If the entry is denied, turn back and come again rather than force it.

Be ready to shoot or pass the instant the puck arrives. Feet set, blade on the ice, eyes inside before you look up. A player who needs two touches is not an option, and the kill ignores them.

At the net front, screen from just outside the paint and hunt the rebound. Tip point shots, and arrive at the back post as the shot goes rather than camping there. Keep both feet clear of the red crease line, and never touch the goalie.

Know your team's shape and your spot in it before your first shift. A man up: 1-3-1, umbrella, overload, spread or 2-3. A man short: box, diamond or wedge+1. Each is a coaching choice, not a law — ask your coach which you run.

When they clear it, one player chases and the other four re-form. The chaser arrives before the puck stops; if two go, nobody holds the zone. Whoever holds the line keeps the puck in first and shoots second.

On the kill, hold your own job and concede only the shot you chose. Kill it at your blue line if you can. Chase only a puck you can win — a bobble, a turned back, an unsupported puck on the boards — and go for the puck, not through the man.

Clear, then change, and call the man coming out. Change when you can, not when you must. The player leaving the box is a fresh attacker nobody is marking. Agree the defensive-zone draw, and where the clear goes, before you line up.

A man short, fire the long clear the moment you have it — if your book allows it. A shorthanded team may usually ice it, but USA Hockey withholds that below its older levels, and the NHL and PWHL withdraw it in one major-penalty case. Aim it away from their goalie, and release it before the penalty ends.

On the kill, take away lanes: stick on the seam, body in the shooting lane. Concede the perimeter pass. Get into the lane before the shot, never in front of your goalie's eyes, and block with your body, on your feet, head out of the lane. How much to block is your coach's call.

Overview

Special teams means the two teams have different numbers of skaters. A power play is when you have the extra one; a penalty kill is when you are one short — written "5-on-4", counting skaters only.

Both halves are the same problem from opposite sides. A power play tries to make one killer responsible for two attackers; a kill makes sure no killer ever is. So the power-play half is built around the plays that create a two-on-one — the seam pass, the one-timer, the royal-road pass, the point shot for a tip, the backdoor arrival, the walk-down from the half-wall. The kill half is built around meeting the entry, which shot each shape concedes, and not chasing. Learn the plays first; the shape is just where you stand to make them.

On the power play, the puck moves and everyone is ready for it. The pass that matters is usually the second, and it works only if the receiver can shoot or pass on the first touch. The net-front player screens from just outside the paint and arrives at the back post as the shot goes. When the kill clears it, one player chases and four re-form. When the entry is denied, turn back and come again.

On the kill, hold your job and take away lanes. Kill it before it reaches your zone by standing up at the line. Once they are set, sticks take the seam first and the perimeter pass is conceded on purpose. Chase only a puck you can win, and go for the puck, not through the man. Clear first, change second, call the man coming out, and block from the lane on your feet — never from in front of your goalie's eyes.

The shapes are coaching choices, not rules. The five power plays below — 1-3-1, umbrella, overload, spread/box and 2-3 — and the three kills — box, diamond and wedge+1 — are systems a coach picks. So is preferring the pass to the shot, so is how much your team blocks, and so is the idea under all of them, that danger depends on location. Find out which system your team plays, and your job in it, before you are on the ice.

Two rules are the tactic here, and both differ by book — so find out which book your league runs. A man short, clear the length of the ice whenever you can: a shorthanded team may usually do it without icing being called. The NHL and the PWHL withdraw that from a kill whose penalty box is empty when a major expires, and under USA Hockey it does not exist below Youth 15-Only, Girls 16U, High School and Adult. And keep every clear hard, flat and in the rink: a puck sent directly out of play from your own end is a minor under the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL. A deliberate one is a minor from anywhere on the ice in all six books, so never flip it out to buy a whistle. Both are set out in "You may ice the puck freely — where your rule set allows it" and "The two penalties a kill talks itself into" below.

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POWER PLAY

The one idea behind every power play

Goal

Create a 2-on-1 — the extra man only pays when the kill has two attackers to worry about and one body to do it with

Never

Stand still — a static 5-on-4 is a 4-on-4 with a spare man standing somewhere useless

Action

Manufacture 2-on-1s wherever the kill lets you; every one pulls the kill further out of shape and sets up the next

Priority

Cash them in as close to the net as you can — a net-front 2-on-1 is near-certain, one at the top of the zone is a shot from distance

Convention

Danger is a function of location — a coaching judgement, not a rule, and a coaching consensus rather than a counted one

Five attackers against four defenders is not "one extra shooter". It is one extra decision the penalty kill cannot make.

Four killers can cover four attackers. That is the whole problem. A static 5-on-4 where nobody moves is a 4-on-4 with a spare man standing somewhere useless. The advantage only becomes a goal when the kill has two attackers to worry about and one body to do it with — a 2-on-1 somewhere on the ice.

A 2-on-1 anywhere is worth creating, because each one pulls the kill further out of shape and sets up the next. But they are not worth the same: danger depends on location. A 2-on-1 at the net front — net-front player plus a backdoor arriver against one defenceman — is a near-certain chance. One at the top of the zone is usually a shot from distance into traffic. (That ranking is coaching consensus, not a rule or a measurement.) Manufacture them wherever the kill lets you, and cash them in as close to the net as you can.

Why puck movement, not shooting, creates it

Key

A kill can cover any single option; it cannot cover three options in two seconds

Action

Move the kill with passes, not with skating — two crisp passes pull a box further out of shape than thirty seconds of stickhandling

Never

Shoot into a set kill — a point shot into four square bodies is a coin-flip on possession and a re-entry against a set kill

Convention

This document's default is "shoot when the kill is out of shape" — a coaching philosophy, not a law; shot-volume power plays are coached and do work

Key

The pass that beats a kill is usually the second one — the first makes them move, the second arrives where they no longer are

Position

Wherever you stand, be an option the kill must physically account for, able to shoot or pass immediately

A penalty kill is a shape, and a shape has to travel to cover the puck. Every pass makes at least one killer skate. Killers skating are killers arriving late, and a killer arriving late is a 2-on-1 for the two seconds before they get there.

• A kill can cover any single option. It cannot cover three options in two seconds. That is the entire mechanism.
• Passing moves the kill faster than skating does. The puck travels far quicker than a person. Two crisp passes will pull a box further out of shape than thirty seconds of one player stickhandling on the half-wall.
• Shooting into a set kill is how you end your power play. A point shot into four square bodies is a coin-flip on possession — they block it, clear it, and you re-enter against a set kill. This document's default is "shoot when the kill is out of shape", a coaching philosophy, not a law. The real alternative is a shot-volume power play: shoot from the moment you are set, and let tips, rebounds and a strong retrieval unit do the work. Volume suits a heavy point shot, a fearless net front and good retrievers; patience suits a distributor and a one-timer. Ask your coach which one you play.
• Corollary: the pass that beats a kill is usually the second one. The first pass makes them move; the second one arrives where they no longer are. Power plays that make one pass and shoot are just slow even-strength hockey.

Whatever spot you occupy, your job is to be an option the kill must physically account for, in a body position where you could shoot or pass immediately. A player who has to take two touches to become dangerous is not an option — the kill can ignore them and cover the other three.

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Power play formations

Convention

Which formation your team plays is a coaching choice, not a rule of hockey — and so is who stands where inside it

Key

Every shape below wins against some kills and loses to others, and every one requires personnel it suits

Action

Find out which formation your team runs, and which spot is yours, before your first power play shift

Never

Guess — if you are guessing, you are the reason the seam is covered

1-3-1 — widely described as the modern default

Position

One at the point, two on the half-walls, a bumper in the middle of the slot, one at the net front — one point player, not two

Action

The point walks the line laterally — sliding sideways changes the angle of every passing lane in the zone; keep going until a killer turns their head or shifts across to follow

Technique

Half-walls play the off-wing so the puck is on the inside hand; look inside before you look up

Action

The bumper keeps the blade on the ice for a one-touch shot and holds the kill's high players down

Position

The net front lives just outside the blue paint, with both feet off the red crease line. Screen, tip and hunt rebounds from there

Rule

Keep both feet outside the red crease line. Every book that settles it counts the line in — IIHF 1.7, USA Hockey 625(b)'s Note and Casebook, and the Hockey Canada and CARHA glossaries. NHL and PWHL 1.7 do not settle it, and their Table 14 and the IIHF's allow a goal off a screen on the line

Rule

Under USA Hockey a skate in the crease costs a power play the zone, not just the goal — 625(b) sends the faceoff to the nearest neutral zone spot when an attacker stands in or skates through it, the puck is in the attacking zone, your team has possession and the goalie touches the crease

Convention

The bumper is most often the centre, but that is team-dependent, not a law. Ask your coach who has it

Countered by

A diamond — this is the most-scouted shape in hockey, so kills arrive with a plan for it

Risk

With only one player back, a lost puck at the blue line is an immediate odd-man rush the other way

The shape: one player at the point, three across the middle of the zone — two on the half-walls with a bumper between them in the middle of the slot — and one at the net front.

What the shapes and fills mean

First units are widely described as running the 1-3-1 with four forwards and one defenceman, who plays the point. The personnel half of that has been measured: Matt Cane (Hockey Graphs, March 2017) found four-forward units took "roughly 56% of the 5-on-4 ice-time this season", a share that was rising in 2017. That is a league-wide share of ice time, not a count of teams or of first units. Which shapes teams run has not been counted, as far as this document has found, so any "most teams use X" claim about the shape is an impression.

The jobs:

• Point (the "quarterback"). Usually the lone defenceman. You are a distributor first and a shooter second. Walk the line laterally — sliding along the blue line changes the angle of every passing lane. Keep sliding until a killer turns their head or shifts across to follow you. (Getting a shot past one blocker is a different job — see the point shot for tips and rebounds.) Your shot is mainly a threat: once the kill stops respecting it, they stop stepping out to you and the half-walls lose their space. Shoot for tips and rebounds, not to beat the goalie clean.
• Half-walls (two players, usually forwards). The primary decision-makers. From here you can reach the point, the bumper, the net front and — through the seam — the far half-wall. Ideally you play your off-wing (a left-hander on the right side, or vice versa) so the puck is on your inside hand: that opens your body to the middle of the ice, makes the one-timer available, and lets you shoot or pass without turning. Your first move should almost always be to look inside before you look up.
• Bumper. The middle of the three, sitting in the soft spot between the point and the net-front player, roughly the middle of the slot. You are the reason a box fails: a box has nobody assigned to the middle. Your job is to keep your stick free and your blade on the ice for a one-touch shot or redirect, to constantly adjust your angle so a passing lane exists from at least one half-wall, and to hold the kill's high players down so they cannot step out and pressure the point.
• Net front. Screen the goalie, tip point shots, hunt rebounds, and sometimes slide below the goal line to open a high-to-low pass. Live just outside the blue paint — the goal crease, the goalie's protected ice — with both feet clear of the red line that marks it. ⚠️ Never touch the goalie to make room. The line is a rule, not a preference: the IIHF, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA count it as part of the crease, and the NHL does not say. Under USA Hockey, standing in the crease can cost a power play the zone as well as the goal. Against their goalie sets it out; see also the goaltender-interference note under Centre.

Who plays the bumper? Most often the centre, because the position is a centre's whole skill set: soft hands in traffic, back to the play, one-touch passing. But this is genuinely team-dependent, not a law — plenty of real NHL units put a winger in the bumper. The spot is chosen for the ability to receive and release in a crowd, not for what is printed on the lineup card. Ask your coach who has it; do not assume.

Strengths: occupies all five dangerous areas at once; creates four passing triangles, so there is always a short outlet; the bumper attacks the one place a box cannot cover; the off-wing half-walls make the cross-seam one-timer live at all times.

Weaknesses: every player must be comfortable making plays under pressure — a weak link in any of the five spots kills it. With only one player back, a lost puck at the blue line is an immediate odd-man rush the other way. It is also the most-scouted shape in hockey, so kills arrive with a plan (usually a diamond) specifically for it.

Suits: skilled units with at least one high-end distributor on a half-wall, one genuine one-timer threat, and a centre or winger brave enough to stand in the slot.

Umbrella — three high

Position

Three high in an arc — one apex highest in the middle at the blue line, two flanks lower either side — and two low at the net

Key

There is no bumper in a true umbrella; the middle of the slot is deliberately vacated so the high players have clean lanes into it

Options

Classic — a forward apex with both defencemen out on the flanks; modern — the lone defenceman at the apex with two forwards down at the tops of the circles

Never

String three players level across the blue line and call it an umbrella — with no depth every pass is short and lateral

Action

The three high move the puck side to side for a shot with a lane; the two low screen, tip and collect rebounds

Countered by

A diamond or an aggressive box, which will happily let you pass it around the top all night

Risk

The umbrella works the puck far from the net, and goalies and killers are most comfortable when the puck is far from the net

The shape: three players high, arranged as an arc rather than a flat line — that curve is what the name describes. One apex sits highest, in the middle at or just inside the blue line, and the two flanks sit lower than the apex on either side. Below the arc sit two low players, typically one at the net front and one at the side of the net or in a circle.

What the shapes and fills mean

How far the flanks drop is the one real variation. In the classic version the apex is a forward in the middle of the blue line with both defencemen out on the flanks, still close to the line — the arc is shallow. In the modern version the lone defenceman takes the apex and two forwards drop right down to the tops of the faceoff circles, where the one-timer lives — a much deeper arc. Both are umbrellas. What neither is, is three players strung out level across the blue line: with no depth between them every pass is short and lateral and the kill barely has to move.

There is no bumper in a true umbrella. The middle of the slot is deliberately vacated so the high players have clean shooting lanes into it.

The jobs: the three high move the puck side to side looking to get it to the middle for a shot with a lane; the two low screen, tip and collect rebounds. Everything is aimed at getting a puck through to the net with a body in front of the goalie.

Strengths: enormous space and time up high; hard to pressure, because pressuring one high player opens a pass to another; three shooting angles from the top; very difficult for the kill to get a shorthanded break, because you always have players above the puck.

Weaknesses: it is far from the net, and goalies and killers are most comfortable when the puck is far from the net. Used as a permanent shape it becomes predictable, and a diamond or an aggressive box will happily let you pass it around the top all night. It concedes the middle of the ice by design.

Suits: teams with heavy, accurate point shots and a genuinely fearless net front; also a good change-up shape when a kill has settled comfortably against your 1-3-1.

Overload — four to one side

Position

Four on one side — below the goal line, in the corner or low circle, on the half-wall and at that point — with the fifth weak side as a release valve

Action

Cycle the puck relentlessly in a small area, creating repeated 3-on-2s along the strong-side wall

Read

When a killer over-commits, attack the seam or swing it cross-ice to the lone weak-side player with the goalie moving

Read

Excellent against a passive box that will not come out to the wall

Countered by

A kill that reads the pattern — the passes are short and easy to intercept, and a strong-side interception is a shorthanded break

Risk

It produces fewer shots than other shapes; cycling without ever pulling the trigger just tires your own unit

The shape: four players loaded onto one side of the ice — typically a player below the goal line, one in the corner or low circle, one on the half-wall and one at the point on that side — with the fifth player weak side as a release valve and safety.

What the shapes and fills mean

The jobs: cycle the puck relentlessly in a small area, creating repeated 3-on-2s along the strong-side wall until a killer over-commits, then either attack the resulting seam or swing the puck cross-ice to the lone weak-side player for a shot with the goalie moving.

Strengths: outnumbers the kill locally; generates chances from deception and short passes rather than long ones; excellent against a passive box that will not come out to the wall.

Weaknesses: demands deceptive, patient passers — if the kill reads the pattern, the passes are short and easy to intercept, and interceptions on the strong side lead straight to shorthanded breaks. It also produces fewer shots than other shapes; a unit that cycles without ever pulling the trigger achieves nothing but a tired power play.

Suits: skilled, patient units, and teams whose best player is a below-the-goal-line playmaker. Note that at rec and youth level overload is often run out of a 2-3 base (below), with both defencemen staying at the points. That is an impression of how those levels play, not a measured share — no count of rec or youth power-play deployments was found.

Spread / box — pulling the kill apart

Position

Two low just outside the posts, two high and wide at the tops of the circles or points, one in the middle of the slot

Key

The point is the spacing, not the shape. Stand far enough apart that one killer cannot cover two of you

Action

Occupy space, stay still enough to be a genuine passing target, and make everything a one-touch play

Read

Use it at 5-on-4 against a kill that has collapsed so tightly it has conceded the outside entirely; it is also the standard 5-on-3 shape

Countered by

Long passes — at 5-on-4 they are interceptable and can be blocked by a well-placed stick

Risk

The spread surrenders the possession game — you are not cycling, you are waiting

Key

"Box" names both this power-play spacing and the standard penalty-kill shape; say which one you mean

The shape: five spots, deliberately stretched to the corners of the danger area — two low, one on each side of the net just outside the posts; two high and wide, at the tops of the circles or the points; and one in the middle of the slot. The point is not the shape itself but the spacing: stand far enough apart that one killer cannot cover two of you.

The jobs: occupy space, stay still enough to be a genuine passing target, and force the kill to make full-length skates to close anyone down. Everything is a one-touch play — with this much space the kill's only defence is anticipation, and one-touch passing beats anticipation.

Strengths: the maximum geometric stress you can put on a small defensive unit. Creates backdoor plays almost automatically, because the weak-side low player is simply too far away for the kill's low defender to reach.

Weaknesses: at 5-on-4 the passes are long, and long passes are interceptable and can be blocked by a well-placed stick. It surrenders the possession game — you are not cycling, you are waiting.

Suits: it is the standard 5-on-3 shape (see below), and it is worth using at 5-on-4 against a kill that has collapsed so tightly it has conceded the outside entirely.

2-3 — the older structure

Position

Two defencemen at the points and three forwards low — one at the net front, one in each circle or corner

Action

The points shoot and keep pucks in; the three forwards screen, tip and hunt rebounds, with the puck going low-to-high and back

Key

It is safe — two defencemen at the line means very few shorthanded breaks and good retrieval on missed shots

Countered by

A competent box, which is built to defend the two areas this attacks

Risk

It ignores the middle of the slot entirely and generates lots of low-quality shots

Read

Choose the 2-3 with no puck-moving defenceman, when protecting a lead, or where the group has not yet learned to hold the blue line under pressure

The shape: two defencemen at the points and three forwards low — one at the net front, one in each circle or corner. This was the default power play for decades and remains common in rec, beer-league and youth hockey. Both halves of that are impressions; no count was found for either.

What the shapes and fills mean

The jobs: the points shoot and keep pucks in; the three forwards work the low area, screen, tip and hunt rebounds; the puck generally goes low-to-high and back.

Strengths: it is safe. Two defencemen at the line means very few shorthanded breaks and very good puck retrieval on missed shots. It is also the easiest shape to teach and the least dependent on individual skill — everyone knows where to stand.

Weaknesses: it attacks the two areas a box is built to defend (the points and the goalmouth) and ignores the middle of the slot entirely. It generates lots of low-quality shots. Against a competent box it is close to harmless.

Suits: teams without a puck-moving defenceman, teams who are protecting a lead, and any group that has not yet learned to hold the blue line under pressure. It is a perfectly respectable place to start.

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The key power-play plays

These are the plays the shapes exist to produce. Learn the plays first; the shape is just where you stand to make them available.

The seam pass

Key

A seam runs through or across the middle of the defensive shape rather than around it — half-wall to half-wall, or half-wall to bumper

Goal

Any puck that crosses the middle forces every killer and the goalie to re-orient at once

Technique

Flat, hard, on the ice, to the receiver's stick, with a look or a fake sold first — Passing and Receiving covers the mechanics

Never

Force a seam that is not there — intercepted in the middle it is a shorthanded breakaway, and you have four teammates above the puck

A seam is a passing lane that runs through or across the middle of the defensive shape rather than around it — most often half-wall to half-wall, or half-wall to bumper.

• It works because a kill's shape is built to defend the perimeter. Any puck that crosses the middle forces every killer and the goalie to re-orient at once.
• How to throw one — flat, hard, on the ice, to the receiver's stick, with a look or a fake sold first — is standard passing technique under pressure, covered in Passing and Receiving. What is special-teams-specific is the judgement: if the seam is not there, do not force it. A seam pass intercepted in the middle is a shorthanded breakaway, and you have four teammates above the puck.

The one-timer from the off-wing

Technique

A one-timer is a shot taken directly off an incoming pass without stopping the puck

Position

Play your off-wing — left-hander on the right side — so the puck is on your inside hand and your body turns toward the net

Technique

Weight loaded on the back foot, body still and square before the pass leaves — Shooting covers the mechanics

Technique

Keep the backswing short — in a CARHA league a stick brought back more than fifteen inches is a slap shot: a minor; if it injures, ejection and at least a one-game ban

Rule

In a CARHA league keep the one-timer's follow-through below the shoulders — Rule 62(b) makes high-stick contact above an opponent's shoulders a major even by accident and even if nobody is hurt; deliberate or injuring, it also ejects you (62(b) Note)

Key

The threat is worth as much as the shot — a live weak-side one-timer forces one killer to stay wide

Goal

That wide killer is precisely how the bumper and the net front get free, before the puck ever comes to you

A one-timer is a shot taken directly off an incoming pass without stopping the puck. Playing your off-wing (left-hander on the right side, right-hander on the left) puts the puck on your inside hand and turns your whole body toward the net, which is what makes it possible. The shooting mechanics — weight loaded on the back foot, body still and square before the pass leaves — are in Shooting. Keep the backswing short: in a CARHA league a stick brought back more than fifteen inches is a slap shot, and CARHA Rule 79(a) makes that a minor, or a major if it injures an opponent — which ends your game and brings at least a one-game suspension (32(d)). A follow-through that catches an opponent above the shoulders is a separate foul there: a major even by accident and even if nobody is hurt, and an ejection only if it was deliberate or injures (Rule 62(b)).

The power-play point is a different one: the threat is worth as much as the shot. A live one-timer option on the weak side forces one killer to stay wide, and that is precisely how the bumper and the net front get free. You are being useful in the two seconds before the puck ever comes to you.

The royal road / slot-line pass

Key

The royal road runs down the middle of the ice from net to net; a pass crossing it just before a shot is the highest-value pass type measured, roughly double the next one

Key

Ranking the royal road the highest-value pass type rests on volunteer-tracked Passing Project data — 51,308 shots at 5-on-5, all attempts, not shots on goal — so it is not a power-play number

Goal

A goalie tracking the puck across the middle cannot stay square — they are off their angle and depth when the shot arrives

Action

Before you shoot from a half-wall, check the far side — a cross-seam pass beats a shot from the same spot almost every time

Key

Offensive Zone Play covers the measured finishing rate and its qualifications — take the number from there, with those words attached

Risk

The 20-30% range quoted in coaching material has no published primary source behind it; treat it as illustrative only

The royal road (also called the slot line) is an imaginary line running straight down the middle of the ice from net to net. A pass that crosses it immediately before a shot is the highest-value pass type measured, roughly double the next one. (Published descriptions of exactly where the line runs disagree — some put it net-centre to net-centre as here, others stop it at the top of the circles. Shooting sets out the disagreement; nothing here turns on which is right.)

• Why it works: a goalie who has to track the puck across the middle cannot stay square. They must break from small shuffles into a hard lateral push, and while pushing they are opening up, off their angle and off their depth. The shot arrives before they are set. See Goaltender for the save mechanics from the other side.
• The concept was popularised by former NHL goalie Steve Valiquette, whose shot tracking classified chances by whether the puck crossed the line. That "76% of goals are green shots" figure traces to Valiquette (NHL.com, December 2014), but the tracking behind it is proprietary and has never been replicated — Shooting sets out its limits.
• The best-sourced figure is 15.50% — the finishing rate on shots after a royal-road pass, roughly double the next pass type (Alan Wells' analysis of Ryan Stimson's Passing Project, via NHL.com). Carry its limits with it: the data was volunteer-tracked, it is "51,308 shots at 5v5" (Wells, Hockey Graphs, September 2016), it counts all attempts, not shots on goal, and it is not a power-play measurement. Offensive Zone Play covers it. The 20–30% range quoted in coaching material has no published primary source; treat it as illustrative. The direction of the effect is not in doubt, and it is why modern power plays are built around cross-ice passing.
• Practical version: a cross-seam pass beats a shot from the same spot almost every time. Before you shoot from a half-wall, check the far side.

The point shot for tips and rebounds

Key

The point shot is not an attempt to score from the point — it is a delivery system for a tip or a rebound

Technique

Judge it on whether it arrives low, hard and on net with a body in front

Read

Shoot when the net-front player has established position and the goalie's view is obstructed, not before

Action

Change the angle before you shoot — step sideways along the line until the shot-blocker has to move their feet, and the lane the kill set is no longer the lane you are in

Risk

A missed net is a free clear off the end boards and twenty seconds gone

Rule

In a CARHA league shoot wrist or snap — Rule 79(a) makes a slap shot, a backswing over fifteen inches, a minor, and a major if it injures, which 30(a) and 32(d) make an ejection and at least a one-game ban

The point shot is not an attempt to score from the point. It is a delivery system for a tip or a rebound, and should be judged on whether it arrives low, hard and on net with a body in front. Release, weight transfer and getting a shot through a blocking lane are in Shooting. In a CARHA league make it a wrist or snap shot, because a slap shot there is a minor and, if it injures, an ejection and at least a one-game ban (Rules 79(a), 30(a), 32(d)).

The two special-teams reads: shoot when the net-front player has established position and the goalie's view is obstructed, not before, and change the angle first, because stepping sideways along the line takes the shot out of the lane the kill has set. Screening a goalie from outside the crease is legal, provided you do not touch them or crowd them so they cannot move. How far is feel rather than a measurement: go until the shot-blocker has to move their feet, which is usually a step or two. A missed net on a power play is a free clear off the end boards and twenty seconds gone.

The backdoor play

Position

The backdoor is the weak-side post — the far side of the net, away from the puck

Read

Whenever the kill's low defender commits to the strong side or to the net-front player, it is a 2-on-1 with nobody defending it

Action

Arrive late — time it, do not camp it; a player standing at the back post all shift is marked

Key

The pass comes low-to-high-to-backdoor or straight across from below the goal line — either way it crosses the royal road, which is why it converts

The backdoor is the weak-side post — the far side of the net, away from the puck. Whenever the kill's low defender commits to the strong side or to the net-front player, it is a 2-on-1 with nobody defending it.

What the shapes and fills mean

Arrive late. A player standing at the back post all shift is marked; a player arriving as the shot or pass is released is not. Time it, do not camp it. The pass comes low-to-high-to-backdoor or straight across from below the goal line — either way it crosses the royal road, which is why it converts.

The walk-down from the half-wall

Action

Skate the puck down from the half-wall toward the goal line and inside rather than passing

Read

If the kill's low defender steps out to you, the net front is free; if they stay, you have a shot from the top of the circle with a moving goalie

Never

Walk to the corner — below the goal line and wide you are harmless; the threat comes from heading toward the dot

Technique

Head up, feet moving toward the net — the moment your feet stop, the kill resets

Never

Turn your back to anyone coming at you on a walk-down off the half-wall, and never duck — take contact with skates parallel to the boards, forearm and hip to the wall, head up and chin off your chest

Action

If it is denied, reset to the point and start over

Risk

Losing the puck below the goal line is a wasted twenty seconds and usually a clear

The walk-down is the half-wall player skating the puck down toward the goal line and inside rather than passing. It forces a decision: if the kill's low defender steps out to you, the net front is free; if they stay, you have a shot from the top of the circle with a moving goalie.

What the shapes and fills mean

Walk to the middle, not to the corner — below the goal line and wide you are harmless, and the threat comes from heading toward the dot. Head up, feet moving toward the net; the moment your feet stop the kill resets. If it is denied, reset to the point and start over. Losing the puck below the goal line on a power play is a wasted twenty seconds and usually a clear.

The walk-down starts on the boards with a killer stepping out at you, so "head up" is not the whole posture. ⚠️ Never turn your back to anyone coming at you, and never duck. Get your skates parallel to the boards, forearm and hip to the wall, head up and chin off your chest — not the point of your shoulder, and not the whole shoulder if you can help it. Being a man up is not protection here, and neither is a non-checking league: the wall does not need an opponent to hurt you, and a killer closing legally can still arrive with you against it — even where pushing or pinning you into the boards is a penalty, as it is in women's hockey under the IIHF book. Body Contact and Battles owns the full rule.

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Power play zone entries

In short: Enter with control rather than speed, and when the kill has the line, regroup and come again rather than force it.

Key

This is where most amateur power plays die — at the blue line, not in the zone

Priority

A clean, controlled entry is worth far more than a fast one; enter with possession and you have ninety seconds of pressure

Key

Zone Entries covers the entry toolkit and the tracked values — read the figures there

Action

Use the drop pass — it changes the carrier without changing the speed of the attack and makes the defending line commit to the wrong player

Action

Swing one or two players back to gather speed and receive already moving forward; the single swing is less predictable than the double

Action

Dump to a spot, not a player, and rim away from the goalie's trapezoid so a defender retrieves under pressure

Rule

The goalkeeper's restricted area is IIHF Rule 27.7, but England Ice Hockey's Rules & Regulations 22.3 call it "not currently enforced", scope and standing unsettled — so in any British competition, plan for their goalie to come out for a dumped puck

Rule

USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA (adult leagues only) write no trapezoid at all, so their goalie may fetch a rimmed puck from any corner — not freeze it out there: USA Hockey 614(c) and Casebook Situation 6; CARHA 58(b) and 61(b); Hockey Canada Interpretation 3 to Rule 10.1(a), clause v

Rule

Against a PWHL goalie, plan for her to come out for a dump too — the PWHL switches the trapezoid off in Rules 1.8 and 27.8, though its 65.2(viii) still writes the goalie's minor

Read

Regroup rather than force — you can afford it and the kill cannot, but the cost is clock, so do not regroup out of habit

Risk

A puck turned over at the offensive blue line with four teammates ahead of it is the way coaches most often name for conceding a shorthanded goal

Before any of this applies, you have to have the puck out of your own end — and a power play spends more time there than it expects. A kill may clear the length of the ice without being whistled, so the puck comes straight back to you behind your own net; and if you ice it yourself, the next draw is in your own zone. The exit a man up is in Breakouts: the same five jobs and named options as at even strength, with two differences. On a four-forward unit one of the two defence jobs is a forward's. And icing applies to you, so the length-of-ice clear is the one exit the rules price differently for you than for them.

This is where most amateur power plays die — not in the zone. A kill defending its blue line is compact, has four players between you and the net, and has nothing to lose by conceding the neutral zone, while you have to bring a five-player structure through a narrow gate without a turnover.

The entry toolkit itself — carry, chip, dump, delay, the drive-and-drop, and the data on what each is worth — is in Zone Entries, and everything there applies here. What changes with the extra man is only this:

1. A clean, controlled entry is worth far more than a fast one. Enter with possession and set up, and you have ninety seconds of pressure. Dump and lose the race and you have ten, then you do it all again. (The tracked data still favours the carry-in on the power play — roughly two and a half times the shots of a dump-in — but by a narrower margin than at even strength, because the extra man also makes dump-in retrievals easier. Note where that particular figure comes from: the power-play numbers are PWHPA / Sportlogiq tracking of women's professional hockey, not the NHL zone-entry study behind the even-strength figures, and the source does not state which season it covers. Zone Entries covers them and carries the full qualification.)
2. You do not get many attempts. A failed entry — dump, lose the race, regroup, come again — burns a serious slice of a 120-second advantage. Two or three of those and the penalty is over. (There is no measured figure for the cost of a failed entry; treat this as calibration, not data.)
3. The drop pass is the signature power-play entry, because it changes the carrier without changing the speed of the attack and makes the defending line commit to the wrong player. Arik Parnass's tracking for the Special Teams Project across six NHL teams in 2015-16 found drop-pass entries produced 0.84 shot attempts per entry versus 0.70 for other entries — but took 15.5 seconds to execute versus 12.6, which cancels most of the gain. (Parnass's three categories run drop 15.49 s, regular 12.56 s, stretch pass 10.37 s. 12.6 is the figure that pairs with the 0.70, because Parnass removed stretch-pass results from the non-drop bucket; comparing the drop against the stretch's 10.4 s instead is not like for like.) Parnass's conclusion is the sensible one, and it is about your own team rather than theirs: keep both a polished regular scheme and a drop scheme, and go to the drop when your primary scheme is in a slump. (Decade-old, small-sample study — indicative, not settled.) Every kill now expects it, and a drop stolen at the red line is a shorthanded breakaway.
4. The swing — one or two players arcing back to gather speed and receive already moving forward — solves the entry's hardest problem: arriving at the line with speed and the puck at once. The single swing (one forward swings, one stays wide) is less predictable than the double.
5. Dump to a spot, not a player. With the extra man you will usually win the loose-puck race if you time the arrival. Rim it away from the goalie's trapezoid — the marked area behind the net where an NHL or IIHF goalie may play the puck — so a defender has to retrieve under pressure. Under USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA there is no trapezoid, so their goalie may fetch a rim from any corner, though not freeze it there; against a PWHL goalie, plan for her to come out too. ⚠️ On your rim, forecheck with your stick, never your body — a goalie out in that corner is still not fair game. In any British competition, plan for their goalie to come out: England Ice Hockey's Rules & Regulations 22.3 call the IIHF restricted area "not currently enforced", its scope and standing unsettled, so look behind the net for painted lines. See Defender and Goaltender.
6. Regroup rather than force. Curl back out, reset to the point defenceman or the goalie, re-form the swing, attack with new speed and a different pattern. You can afford this and the kill cannot — they are tiring while you are not. The cost is clock, so do not regroup out of habit. A puck turned over at the offensive blue line with four teammates ahead of it is the way coaches most often name for a power play conceding a shorthanded goal — coaching consensus rather than a counted breakdown. Nobody publishes shorthanded goals classified by the play that produced them.

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Retrievals and keeping possession

Most of a power play is not the set play. It is the twenty seconds of scrambling after the kill clears it or blocks a shot. Units that win here get three or four setups per power play; units that lose here get one.

When the kill clears it

Action

Decide in advance who chases — commonly the net-front player or the weak-side half-wall, with the point held at the line, but that is a coaching choice: ask your coach

Never

Send two chasers — if two players chase, nobody is holding the zone

Goal

The chaser's job is not to win the puck but to arrive before the puck stops, so it can be moved on the move

Action

Everyone else re-forms while the chase is happening, not after — possession with no options is nothing

Read

If the clear leaves the zone entirely, regroup as a unit and re-enter properly rather than chasing in ones and twos

• Decide in advance who chases. It is commonly the net-front player or the weak-side half-wall, with the point held at the line — but that is a coaching choice with no count behind it, so ask your coach which it is on your unit. What is not optional is that only one player goes: if two chase, nobody is holding the zone.
• The chaser's job is not to win the puck — it is to arrive before the puck stops. A rolling puck retrieved on the move can be moved immediately; a dead puck against the boards is a battle you might lose.
• Everyone else re-forms while the chase is happening, not after. If the retrieval succeeds and the shape is not rebuilt, you have possession and no options.
• If the clear leaves the zone entirely, do not chase it in ones and twos. Regroup as a unit and re-enter properly — see the entries section above. A disorganised re-entry loses more time than a calm one.

The defenceman's job holding the line

Priority

As the lone point player, keeping the puck in the zone is your first responsibility and shooting is your second

Position

Stay inside the blue line — outside it you are not a passing option, and a puck reaching you there has cleared the zone

Technique

Take the puck off the wall with your feet already moving laterally, body on the wall, stick low and flat

Never

Turn your back to anyone coming at you holding the line, and never duck — skates parallel to the boards, forearm and hip to the wall, head up and chin off your chest, never the point of your shoulder

Never

Lunge at a clear that has beaten you cleanly. Turn and skate instead; a missed hold with one defenceman back is a 2-on-0

Key

Holding is staying at the line to stop the puck leaving; pinching is stepping down the wall into the zone, and with one defenceman back it is almost never worth it

Convention

If your team runs two defencemen, only one holds aggressively at a time — the other backs up as the safety

Rule

Drifting into the neutral zone is not offside; offside is judged only at the instant the puck crosses the line into the zone (NHL Rule 83.1)

If you are the lone point player in a 1-3-1, keeping the puck in the zone is your first responsibility and shooting is your second. A power play that gets cleared has to re-enter against four killers already set in their structure, which is a far harder problem than holding a zone you are already in.

• Stay inside the blue line. Drifting out into the neutral zone is not offside — offside is only ever judged at the instant the puck crosses the line into the zone (Rule 83.1), and a puck already in the zone cannot make you offside. The real cost is simpler: with your skates outside the line you are no longer an option for a pass, and if the puck reaches you there the zone is cleared.
• Take the puck off the wall with your feet already moving laterally, not standing square to the boards — that is how clears go past you.
• Body on the wall, stick low and flat. Most clears on the power play are along the boards at ankle height. ⚠️ "Body on the wall" is where you are, not how you meet it — a killer chasing that clear arrives with you already against the boards. Never turn your back to anyone coming at you, and never duck. Skates parallel to the boards, forearm and hip to the wall, head up and chin off your chest — not the point of your shoulder, and not the whole shoulder if you can help it. A wall does not need an opponent to hurt you, so this holds in a non-checking league too. See Body Contact and Battles.
• A hold you miss is a 2-on-0. With one defenceman back, "keep it in at all costs" is wrong. If the clear beats you cleanly, turn and skate; do not lunge. See Risk Management.
• Holding the line is not pinching, and the difference matters here. Holding means staying at the offensive blue line and stopping the puck leaving. (Do not call it "stepping up" — a step up is moving forward to challenge an attacker early, in the neutral zone or at your own blue line. Different end of the rink, different play. See Rink Map.) Pinching means leaving the line and stepping down the wall into the zone to attack a puck below you. Holding is the point player's standing job on a power play. Pinching is an extra risk you take on top of it, and with one defenceman back it is almost never worth taking — a missed pinch puts you two strides deeper than a missed hold does.
• If your team runs two defencemen (umbrella, 2-3), only one holds aggressively at a time — the other backs up as the safety. Same partnership discipline as an even-strength pinch, described in Defender.

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5-on-3

In short: Spread out, move the puck across the middle until the goalie is moving, and have someone at the net for the rebound.

Key

A two-man advantage is a different game, not a better power play — it fails when a unit plays it like a 5-on-4

Read

Three killers sit in a tight triangle around the slot and concede everything outside it — nobody is coming to hunt you on the perimeter

Action

Spread out into the spread/box shape and make the triangle try to cover the whole zone

Action

Move the puck side to side across the royal road, not around the perimeter, until the goalie cannot get set

Never

Shoot from the outside into three shot-blockers. Wait for the goalie to be moving instead, but do not pass for two minutes without shooting

Goal

The goal usually comes from a one-timer at the far post or the second-wave rebound, so have someone at the net for both

Rule

A team never plays fewer than three skaters — a third penalty's clock waits and a substitute keeps them at three (NHL Rule 26.1)

Rule

A goal against a shorthanded team terminates only the minor with the least time remaining, so a 5-on-3 becomes a 5-on-4 (NHL Rule 16.2)

Rule

A goal releases only a minor or bench minor (NHL and IIHF Rule 16.2), so a major is served in full however many you score (NHL and IIHF 20.2) — and a goal scored on a penalty shot releases nothing at all (16.2 in terms, and NHL 24.6)

Rule

Under the In-House Rules a fighting major in NIHL, NIHL1 or NIHL2 in the last five minutes of regulation or in overtime also carries an automatic game misconduct (Section 6, sitting on top of the IIHF book); in women's hockey any major also ejects (Rule 101)

Rule

At a club in England or Wales, outside the Elite League, any fight in the last five minutes, in overtime or at the end of the game is at least a one-game ban, whatever your league (IHUK DOPS C.2)

A two-man advantage is a different game, not a better power play. It should almost always produce a goal, and when it does not it is nearly always because the unit played it like a 5-on-4.

Why it is different: three killers can defend a triangle. They will sit in a tight triangle around the slot — usually two low in front of the net and one high — concede everything outside it, and block shots. Sustained pressure on the puck is not available to them, because every killer who leaves the triangle opens a hole nobody can fill. That does not mean you will never be touched: a three-player kill will still jump a bobbled reception, close hard on anyone who walks into the slot, and throw a stick or a body at a shooter. What it means is that nobody is coming to hunt you on the perimeter — so you have time out there that does not exist at 5-on-4, and the only way to lose it is to hurry.

How to play it:

• Spread out into the spread/box shape above, and make the triangle try to cover the whole zone.
• Move the puck side to side across the royal road, not around the perimeter. Every cross-ice pass forces the goalie into a full lateral push; three or four in a row and they will not be set. Do not shoot from the outside into three shot-blockers — with nobody hunting you there is no reason to rush, so wait for the goalie to be moving.
• The goal usually comes from a one-timer at the far post or the second-wave rebound. Have someone at the net for both. Be patient but not passive: two minutes of pretty passing with no shot is a failed 5-on-3.

What the shapes and fills mean

Rules that matter here:

• A team never plays with fewer than three skaters. If a third player is penalised while two are already serving, the third penalty's clock does not start until one of the first two expires (a delayed penalty in the Rule 26 sense), and the team may put a substitute on the ice to stay at three (NHL Rule 26.1). So a 5-on-2 does not exist.
• A goal only releases one penalty. When you score against a shorthanded team, the minor penalty with the least time remaining terminates (Rule 16.2). A 5-on-3 therefore becomes a 5-on-4, not a 5-on-5 — and if you were about to get another chance, take it immediately while the kill is reorganising.
• This does not apply to major penalties, which are served in full however many you score, or to goals on a penalty shot, which release nobody. The IIHF reaches the same three-skater floor with one difference: the substitute for a third penalised player must go on, where the NHL says may. The floor is three either way.
• Do not fight, and never be the one who starts it. A fighting major is killed in full whoever serves it, and what it really costs is a body off your bench for the rest of the night.

What it costs in Britain. Under the In-House Rules, fighting in NIHL, the SNL and BUIHA Varsity is a five-minute major; in NIHL, NIHL1 and NIHL2, one in the last five minutes of regulation or in overtime also carries an automatic game misconduct. In women's hockey, plan on any fighting major ending your game (In-House Rule 101). At a club in England or Wales, outside the Elite League, any fight in the last five minutes, in overtime or at the end of the game also brings at least a one-game ban, in every league or age group you are registered in. The In-House major softens only the plain fight: an instigator still takes the IIHF's "instigating minor penalty, a major penalty for fighting and an automatic game misconduct" at any point. In the Elite League the instigator takes an instigating minor, a fighting major and a ten-minute misconduct; a game misconduct if they are also the aggressor or it is their second instigation of the game; and in the final five minutes or overtime a game misconduct and a one-game suspension, pending review. Every instigated fight is reviewed for further suspension. Either way, the instigator minor can leave your team killing a penalty on top of the fight. See UK and England Rules.

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PENALTY KILL

The one idea behind every penalty kill

Key

You cannot cover five players with four, so stop trying

Goal

Decide which shot you are willing to give up, then spend two minutes making sure it is the only shot you give up

Key

Every kill concedes something — a box the middle of the slot, a diamond the outside and the backdoor, a wedge+1 the perimeter

Never

Cover something that was never yours — that is how the thing that was yours becomes a goal

Mindset

Discipline beats effort on a penalty kill, every time

Key

Time is on your side and nothing else is — three point shots and no break beats forty clean seconds and then a break

You cannot cover five players with four. So stop trying. A penalty kill is a decision about which shot you are willing to give up — and then a two-minute exercise in making sure that is the only shot you give up.

Every kill concedes something. A box concedes the middle of the slot. A diamond concedes the outside and the backdoor. A wedge+1 concedes the perimeter. The failure mode is always the same: a killer decides to cover something that was never theirs, and the thing that was theirs becomes a goal. Discipline beats effort on a penalty kill, every time.

The second idea: time is on your side and nothing else is. Two minutes is not long. A kill that concedes zero clean looks for 40 seconds and then breaks is worse than one that concedes three shots from the point and never breaks.

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Penalty kill formations

Convention

Which shape you run is a coaching choice — the same four players can run all three in one game

Action

Know which one is called before the faceoff

Key

These are the in-zone shapes, a separate decision from the neutral-zone pressure scheme below, not a competing one

Key

The box is the shape almost everyone is taught first and the baseline the other two are described against

Risk

No public count of how many NHL teams run each as a base shape has been found. Treat any "most teams use X" claim as an impression, not a measurement

Box — the shape everyone learns first

Position

A rectangle around the slot — two forwards high, one on each point, and two defencemen low covering the corners and the goalmouth

Key

A box has two players high and no single "top" — if you are describing "the top of the box", you are describing a diamond

Action

High forwards deny the point time and space, stay in shooting lanes, and never both drift to the same side

Action

The strong-side D pressures the puck below the goal line or in the low circle; the weak-side D owns the goalmouth and the backdoor

Technique

The box slides with the puck rather than rotating — all four shift together, keeping the shape intact

Read

Very good against an overload, which it can out-wait, and against a 2-3, whose attack aims where a box is strongest

Countered by

A 1-3-1 — nobody in a box is assigned to the middle of the slot, so the bumper stands there uncovered by design

The shape: a rectangle around the slot. Two players high — both forwards, one on each side, each responsible for one point — and two players low, both defencemen, covering the two low corners and the goalmouth.

What the shapes and fills mean

A box has no single "top". Two forwards, side by side, is the whole point. If you find yourself describing "the top of the box", you are describing a diamond.

The jobs:

• High forwards: deny the point players time and space, stay in shooting lanes, and never both drift to the same side. Your inside shoulder should be turned so you can see your point man and the middle at once.
• Low defencemen: the strong-side D pressures the puck when it comes below the goal line or to the low circle; the weak-side D owns the goalmouth and the backdoor. Same partnership logic as even-strength Defensive Zone Coverage.
• Everyone: the box slides with the puck rather than rotating. When the puck moves across, all four shift together, keeping the shape intact.

Strengths: simple, teachable, hard to break down, and excellent at protecting the goalmouth and the low slot. Very good against an overload, which it can simply out-wait, and against a 2-3, whose entire attack aims at the two areas a box defends best.

Weaknesses: nobody in a box is assigned to the middle of the slot. Against a 1-3-1 the bumper stands in the hole in the middle of your rectangle and is uncovered by design. It is also passive by nature: a box that never pressures gives a skilled unit unlimited time on the perimeter to find the seam.

Diamond — a single apex

Position

One player high at the apex, two in the middle either side, one low — exactly one player at the top

Goal

The two middles squeeze the slot from either side so a 1-3-1's bumper can be accounted for

Action

The apex pressures the point and takes away the middle shooting lane — you are the only player up there, so do not get walked around

Action

Each middle takes a half-wall and both collapse onto the bumper when the puck goes to the middle

Position

The low player owns the goalmouth, alone

Read

Use it against a 1-3-1, or against an umbrella where the apex can pressure the middle point man

Countered by

A quick cross-seam pass to the far half-wall — the shape is narrow, and the far-side one-timer is on if the middles are slow

Risk

The single low player faces a net-front presence and a backdoor arriver at once — a 2-on-1 you are choosing to concede

The shape: one player high at the apex, two in the middle on either side, and one low. A diamond, not a rectangle: it has exactly one player at the top.

What the shapes and fills mean

Why it exists: because a box leaves the bumper unmarked. The diamond's two middle players squeeze the middle of the slot from either side, so the 1-3-1's bumper can be accounted for. Coaches also use it against a three-high umbrella, where the apex can pressure the middle point man who would otherwise have a free shot.

The jobs:

• Apex (often the centre, but this varies by team): pressure the point player, take away the middle shooting lane, and do not get walked around. You are the only player up there — if you overcommit, the point is uncovered.
• Two middles: each takes a half-wall, and both collapse onto the bumper when the puck goes to the middle. You are working two jobs at once; the timing of when you leave the wall for the middle is the whole art of playing this position.
• Low: own the goalmouth. You are alone down there.

Strengths: the only common shape that starts with an answer to the bumper; puts real pressure on the point; encourages turnovers high in the zone, which is where shorthanded chances come from.

Weaknesses: narrow. A quick cross-seam pass to the far half-wall pulls it apart, and the far-side one-timer is available if the middles are slow. The single low player is alone against a net-front presence and a backdoor arriver — a genuine 2-on-1 that you are choosing to concede. Also more mentally demanding than a box; a confused diamond is worse than a competent box.

Wedge+1 (also called triangle-and-one)

Position

Three killers in a tight triangle around the net — two defencemen just off the crease edges, one forward at the mid-to-high slot; the players rotate through the shape, the shape holds its ground

Action

The wedge stays tight, protects the slot and goalmouth, and does not chase; it blocks shots from in the lane, on its feet and with heads out of the lane, never from a screening position

Action

The +1 pressures whoever has the puck — make every possession uncomfortable, do not try to win it, and hand the pressure to the nearest wedge player rather than trail the puck round the outside

Technique

When your pressure forces the puck to move, the nearest wedge player becomes the new +1 and you drop into the triangle

Key

The exchange is the hard part — everyone must know who is out and who is in, every second

Countered by

A +1 who chases without purpose; you are then killing with three players

Risk

High cognitive load makes it a poor choice for a young or ad-hoc unit

Convention

Coaching material describes it as popular at NHL level, but no league-wide count is published, so treat prevalence as unverified; published descriptions also differ on the +1's route — straight out from the goal, sweeping across the top of the zone, or roaming — so ask your coach

The shape: three killers hold a tight triangle around the net — two defencemen just off the crease edges, one forward at the mid-to-high slot — while the fourth player, the "+1", pressures whoever has the puck. Published descriptions part company on exactly how the +1 does that, so ask your coach which one you are running. Some describe them activating in a straight line out from the goal towards the puck carrier. Some have them sweeping laterally across the top of the zone, above the circles, to keep the power play on one side of the ice. Others have them roaming more freely, challenging on the wall or at the point. What every description shares is the handover: when the puck moves, the nearest wedge player becomes the new +1 and the old one drops in. Whatever licence your version gives the +1, one who chases the puck round the perimeter without handing over is the counter to this system, not the system, and leaves you killing with three players.

What the shapes and fills mean

The jobs:

• The wedge (three players): stay tight, protect the slot and the goalmouth, and do not chase. The players rotate through the shape; the shape itself holds its ground. Block shots properly or not at all: be in the lane before the shot rather than sliding into it, stay on your feet until the puck is actually released, keep your head out of the lane, never lift a leg, turn your back or go sideways, and never block from a screening position. Shot blocking below sets out what is specific to the kill, and Defender and Body Contact and Battles own the technique itself.
• The +1: pressure whoever has the puck, by whichever route your coach teaches. Your job is to make every possession uncomfortable, not to win the puck, and never to trail it round the outside instead of handing the pressure to the nearest wedge player.
• The exchange: when your pressure forces the puck to move, the nearest wedge player becomes the new +1 and you drop into the triangle. This handover is the hard part and the reason the system needs practice — everyone must know who is out and who is in, every second.

Strengths: it protects the highest-danger ice absolutely while still applying pressure, which is why it is commonly used at NHL level — The Coaches Site describes it as popular with most NHL clubs, though no league-wide count of who runs what is published, so treat the prevalence claim as unverified. It is very hard for a 1-3-1 to get a clean look at the middle. It creates turnovers and therefore shorthanded chances.

Weaknesses: high cognitive load — it demands constant awareness of a rotating assignment, which is why it is a poor choice for a young or ad-hoc unit.

Aggressive versus passive

Key

The pressure setting is a separate decision from the shape itself

Read

Go passive — hold structure, concede the perimeter, block lanes — when protecting a lead, when tired, when outgunned, or late in a kill

Options

Go aggressive to force errors; the best-known version is the Czech press, where the high forward genuinely attacks the point player

Risk

Aggression creates chaos, and chaos with four players against five is not usually your friend

Convention

That aggression pushes shots outside while passivity concedes closer ones is a coaching claim — nothing found separates shot location by pressure setting. The one published measurement nearby counts shorthanded attacking rather than pressure, and it favours aggression

Never

Pressure alone. Pressure as a unit or not at all; one player pressuring while three sit is how seams open

Every shape has a pressure setting, and it is a separate decision from the shape itself.

• Passive: hold the structure, concede the perimeter, block lanes, wait for a clear. Lowest variance. Right when you are protecting a lead, when you are tired, when the opposition power play is much better than you, or late in a kill.
• Aggressive: attack the puck carrier and try to force errors. The best-known version is the Czech press, where the high forward genuinely attacks the point player rather than just threatening to. Higher variance: it forces mistakes and creates shorthanded chances, but it also creates chaos, and chaos with four players against five is not usually your friend.
• The honest trade-off: coaching consensus says aggression pushes shots outside and to the wings, while passivity concedes fewer shots but more of them from close range. That is a coaching claim — nothing found measures shot location by pressure setting. The nearest measurement is Matt Cane's 2016 "PK Aggressiveness" study on Hockey Graphs, built on one season of tracking (2013-14): kills that attacked more did better. But it counts attacking while shorthanded, not pressuring the puck in your own end, and the author calls one season "too little to draw sweeping conclusions from" — so it says nothing about the Czech press. What is not in doubt: pressure spends a killer to buy a mistake, and if the mistake does not come you are defending five with three.
• The one rule: pressure as a unit or not at all. One player pressuring while the other three sit is how seams open.

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The PK forecheck and neutral-zone pressure schemes

Key

A forecheck is pressure applied in the opponent's end; a neutral-zone scheme is how you meet them between the blue lines

Goal

On the kill these are one conversation — deciding where to make the power play uncomfortable

Key

F1 and F2 are roles, not people — defined by who is first and second to the puck, not by position

A forecheck is pressure applied in the opponent's end; a neutral-zone scheme is how you meet them between the blue lines. On the kill these are the same conversation, because the whole point is deciding where to make the power play uncomfortable.

F1 and F2 are roles, not people — defined by who is first and second to the puck, not by position.

The four you will meet

Options

The 1-3 — one forward on the puck, the other forward and both defencemen in a line across the ice behind that forward

Read

Passive 1-3 gives token pressure to make them commit to a side; the same-side press has F1 angle the carrier and F2 close to force a dump or turnover

Risk

With F1 beaten or the three-player line spread, the 1-3 has a lot of ice behind it

Options

The 1-1-2 — F1 on the puck, F2 layered behind on the same side, two defencemen abreast near the line

Countered by

Quick direction changes and drop passes at the red line, which slide underneath F1 and F2 at once

Options

The retreating box (2-2) — all four backing up together; safe and easy, and vulnerable to drop passes and direction changes

Options

Tandem pressure — two forwards take turns attacking the carrier; if both are beaten at once the kill is a 2-on-2 with no support

Convention

Some coaching material names the 1-1-2 as a common NHL choice for neutral-zone pressure; no count of NHL teams was found to confirm it — ask which your team plays

• The 1-3 — one forward up on the puck, the other forward and both defencemen in a line across the ice behind that forward. In the passive version F1 gives token pressure to make the power play commit to a side while the three behind back up in unison, refusing to be split; the goal is not to win the puck, it is to make them dump it in. In the same-side press version F1 angles the carrier to one side and F2 closes from that side to force a dump or a turnover — more pressure, but it needs killers who can read and accelerate. Weakness: with F1 beaten or the three-line spread, there is a lot of ice behind it.
• The 1-1-2 — F1 up on the puck, F2 layered behind on the same side forming a wall parallel to the boards, two defencemen abreast near the line. Aggressive without over-committing; it bleeds clock and forces contested entries. Some coaching material calls it a common NHL choice for neutral-zone pressure. No count of NHL teams was found to confirm it. Weakness: quick direction changes and drop passes at the red line slide underneath F1 and F2 at once.
• The retreating box (2-2) — two forwards abreast, two defencemen abreast, all four backing up together. Purely reactive, safe, easy, and vulnerable to drop passes and direction changes.
• Tandem pressure — two forwards take turns attacking the carrier, one peeling off as the other arrives. Exhausting to play against and exhausting to play; if both get beaten at once the kill is a 2-on-2 with no support.

What the shapes and fills mean

What the shapes and fills mean

Killing the entry — what all of this is for

Goal

The most effective place to kill a penalty is before the puck enters your zone — a power play that never gets set up never uses its extra man

Action

Take away the middle and force them to one side; angle with your body, not your stick

Action

Stand up at the blue line as a pair — both defencemen step or both retreat; one of each is a hole

Action

Take the receiver's passing lane with your stick and play the puck, not the man — contact before the puck arrives is interference

Rule

Where body checking is barred, going into the receiver when the puck arrives is a penalty too; in IIHF or PWHL women's play, so is any step or glide into a player (IIHF 101.1, PWHL 52.1)

Goal

Make them dump it; force three failed entries and the penalty is over without you ever defending your own zone

Never

Lunge or dive at the blue line — a missed poke check at your own line is a clean entry with you out of the play

Read

Pressure only if you can actually get there, the carrier is looking down or facing the boards, you are fresh, and the score allows it

Rule

Angle to the puck, not the back — off the head, a hit from behind ends your game in every book but USA Hockey, and into boards or goal frame on a player who cannot protect themselves is a mandatory match in Hockey Canada 7.5(c) and CARHA 53(b)

Rule

USA Hockey: a forceful hit from behind on a player along the boards, a head-first one or a reckless one is at least a major and game misconduct (608(b); Casebook 608, Situation 1); if reckless, plan on a match and a likely multi-game suspension (602(a))

Rule

From behind on the head, NHL and PWHL take the harsher of 43 and 48 and under the IIHF plan on 43.3's major and game misconduct; Hockey Canada prices it as head contact (7.6, 7.7), a mandatory match if defenceless — head first into boards, the harsher of that and 7.5

Rule

A USA Hockey ejection is not only this game — a game misconduct also suspends you for your team's next game (404(b)), and a second major in one game at least two (403(b))

The most effective place to kill a penalty is before the puck enters your zone. The reason is arithmetic: a power play that never gets set up never gets to use its extra man. Once they are established in a shape you are managing damage; in the neutral zone you are 4-on-5 in a space where you can dictate.

• Take away the middle and force them to one side. A power play made to enter along one boards has removed half its own options. Angle with your body, not your stick.
• "Looking down" and "facing the boards" are reasons the puck is winnable, not licence to arrive harder. ⚠️ Angle to the puck, not through the back. A carrier facing the boards is exactly the picture the checking-from-behind rule is written about. It ends your game in most books, and every book but the IIHF can make it a match penalty — the full price is under What it costs at the end of this section.
• Stand up at the blue line as a pair. Both defencemen step, or both retreat. One of each is a hole.
• Attack the receiver, not just the carrier. The dangerous player on entry is usually the one arriving with speed off a drop or a swing. Taking away the target is easier than taking away the puck. Take it with your stick in the receiver's passing lane, and when the puck reaches them go for the puck, not the man: contact before it arrives is interference. Where body checking is barred, or in women's hockey under the IIHF or the PWHL, which penalise any step or glide into a player, going into the receiver when it arrives is a penalty too.
• Make them dump it. A dump-in with your defencemen already turned is a win. You do not have to force turnovers to kill a penalty; you just have to keep them out. Force three failed entries and the penalty is over without you ever defending your own zone.
• Do not lunge or dive at the blue line. A missed poke check at your own line is a clean entry with you out of the play and your team down two.

Pressure or retreat? Judge it in this order: (1) Can you actually get there — pressure arriving a stride late is worse than none, because you have spent a player for nothing. (2) Where is the puck — attack a carrier looking down, receiving badly, or facing the boards; never one with head up and support both sides. (3) What is the clock — pressure early while you are fresh; in the last 30 seconds or when gassed, retreat and make them beat structure. (4) What is the score — protecting a one-goal lead late is not the time for the Czech press; see Game Management. (5) Who is on — a unit with one elite carrier is often worth attacking; five good passers will punish you for it.

What it costs — checking from behind. ⚠️ Angle to the puck and let the back go: while it stays off the head, a hit from behind ends your game in every book but USA Hockey. Into the boards or goal frame on a player who cannot protect themselves it is a mandatory match under Hockey Canada (7.5(c)) and CARHA (53(b)), and a hit meant to injure is a match in every book but the IIHF. Under USA Hockey a forceful one on a player along the boards, a head-first one or a reckless one is at least a major and game misconduct — ⚠️ if it is reckless, plan on a match and a likely multi-game suspension (602(a)). If it reaches the head, the NHL and PWHL take the harsher of Rules 43 and 48, under the IIHF plan on the major and game misconduct, and Hockey Canada prices it as head contact — a mandatory match if they cannot protect themselves — or, head first into the boards, the harsher of the two. Body Contact and Battles has the full ladder and what it costs beyond tonight.

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Clearing, blocking, sticks and discipline

You may ice the puck freely — where your rule set allows it

Rule

A team below the opposing team's on-ice numerical strength cannot be called for icing — play continues and no violation is called (NHL 81.6, PWHL 83.6) — but not unconditionally: the NHL and PWHL withdraw it in one major-penalty case, and USA Hockey withholds it by classification (Rule 624(b)(1))

Rule

IIHF Rule 81.6 grants the shorthanded icing exemption in the same words and carries neither carve-out, so a British kill loses it to neither — but it runs on the on-ice count: a penalty expiring counts its player back in, and ends the exemption only where that leaves you level

Rule

NHL 81.6 and PWHL 83.6 withdraw the exemption only where a major expires with the penalty box empty ("Icing will be called") — not while it is being served, and only until the next stoppage; seating the substitute is a separate duty (NHL and PWHL 20.3)

Rule

Seat a substitute for a player out on a major: missing it is a bench minor under IIHF 68.2 ("immediately") and under NHL 68.2 and PWHL 70.2 ("any violation"), and NHL and PWHL 20.3 add that you play a player short to the next stoppage

Rule

USA Hockey grants the nullification only at Youth 15-Only and above, Girls 16U and above, High School and Adult (Rule 624(b)(1)); below those levels a shorthanded team can be called for icing

Rule

Hockey Canada 6.7(b) and CARHA 65(d) (adult leagues only) grant the shorthanded icing exemption with no age limit and no major-penalty clause — both rules read end to end — and take the count "at the instant the puck is shot" rather than at the penalty's expiry

Rule

Release the puck before the penalty expires and no icing applies even if it ends while the puck is travelling (NHL and IIHF 81.6, PWHL 83.6) — and on a 5-on-3 the first expiry leaves you 4-on-5, below their strength and still exempt

Rule

Not a shorthanded rule at all: a puck sent the length of the ice directly off the draw is not icing in any of the six books (NHL and IIHF 81.5, PWHL 83.5, Hockey Canada 6.7(c)(iv), USA Hockey 624(b)(3), CARHA 65(e), adult leagues only) — USA Hockey's age limit sits on 624(b)(1), not on this limb

Action

Where the exemption applies, fire it the length of the ice the moment you have it — no faceoff, no line-change restriction, and a chance to change

Action

You do not need a teammate — 200 feet away buys clock and a change; make the retrieval awkward, into the corner away from their goalie's trapezoid or hard around the boards

Never

Stretch "numerical strength" beyond penalties — five skaters defending a pulled goalie are not below it and can be called for icing

A shorthanded team cannot be called for icing. NHL Rule 81.6: "If the puck was so shot by a player of a side below the numerical strength of the opposing team, play shall continue and the icing violation shall not be called." The test is whether you are below the opponent's strength, not who is serving a penalty — so at 4-on-4 both teams can be iced, and at 6-on-4 with the power play's goalie pulled the four-skater team still cannot be.

How to use it:

• Where the exemption applies, fire it the length of the ice the moment you have it. No penalty, no faceoff, no line-change restriction. It is your single biggest structural advantage on a kill.
• You do not need to look for a teammate. Getting the puck 200 feet away buys a few seconds of clock and, crucially, a chance to change tired players. (How many seconds depends on how fast they retrieve; there is no measured figure.)
• Aim to make the retrieval awkward — into the corner away from their goalie's trapezoid, or hard around the boards — so they cannot regroup cleanly.
• With two seconds left on the kill, fire it. NHL 81.6: "⁠[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."

Do not stretch "numerical strength" beyond penalties. ⚠️ Five skaters defending a pulled goalie are not below six, and they can be iced. The IIHF says so outright — strength is affected only when a team is short "due to one or more penalties that they are serving" — and the NHL reaches the same place by counting the goalie inside its strength. Defending a 6-on-5 is in Game Management.

An expiry ends the exemption only where it leaves you level. The returning player counts back in whether or not they have left the box — so killing a lone minor, the exemption goes when it expires. On a 5-on-3 the first expiry leaves you 4-on-5, still below their strength, and you may still ice it. Every book shares that head count; they differ only on the instant they judge it — the NHL, IIHF and PWHL at the penalty's expiry, Hockey Canada and CARHA (adult leagues only) "at the instant the puck is shot", USA Hockey both. Do not quote Hockey Canada's note that "⁠[a] team will no longer be considered shorthanded once the penalty time expires" without that test: a teammate still serving another penalty keeps you short.

There are two carve-outs, and neither is the IIHF's — the British position is at the end of this section.

Carve-out 1 — the NHL's and the PWHL's empty penalty box when a major expires. A team shorthanded by a major that has not put a player in the box "to exit upon the expiry of the penalty" loses the exemption: "Icing will be called." It bites at the moment the major runs out, not while it is being served, and it lasts only until the next stoppage, when they may put the player back. So four minutes into a five-minute major, keep clearing.

Keep clearing — but seat somebody. ⚠️ That is not a licence to leave the box empty. When the substitute is due is a separate question from when the icing sanction lands, and the books price it separately:

• NHL and PWHL: the substitute is due before the major expires. Miss it and it is a bench minor: NHL 68.2 and PWHL 70.2 treat "any violation" as an illegal substitution. You also lose the clear, 20.3 adds that you play a player short until the next stoppage, and a replacement who comes on from anywhere but the box is a bench minor. Where minors sit on the clock beside the major, the substitute is due immediately.
• IIHF: the substitute is due immediately, and failing it is a bench minor — so it can land while the major is still running, and on a kill that is a 5-on-3.
• USA Hockey: youth, high-school and girls' teams must seat a substitute immediately on a major plus game misconduct, and an injured player's substitute is due immediately with a bench minor behind it. Adult teams are not asked to seat anyone on a major plus game misconduct or a match penalty — there an empty box is the expected state.
• Hockey Canada: the coach names a server, or the referee does, so the seat always gets filled.
• CARHA (CARHA-affiliated leagues only): a substitute is required, but no moment is named and no sanction written. Treat it as unsettled and seat somebody anyway.

One case empties the box legitimately everywhere: coincidental majors carrying game misconducts. Substitutes go straight onto the ice, neither team is shorthanded, and there is no kill. ⚠️ Check that the game misconducts went with the majors — without them the players serve their own time and the box is not empty.

Carve-out 2 — USA Hockey limits the exemption by classification, and for most North American youth readers this is the one that matters. Rule 624(b)(1) grants it "(For all Youth 15-Only and above, Girls 16U and above, High School and Adult classifications only)". Below those levels a shorthanded team is called for icing like anyone else, and a kill built on the long clear just feeds the power play defensive-zone draws.

One length-of-ice shot is never icing, at any strength, in all six books: a puck sent down directly off the draw. ⚠️ Play it the strict way: it is the puck your own stroke sends from the dot, not one you win to a defenceman who then clears it. USA Hockey's Casebook rules that a centre who wins the draw and shoots an instant later has iced it, because "the puck must receive its impetus from the initial stick contact on the face-off." USA Hockey's age limit sits on the shorthanded limb, not this one, so a youth team without the shorthanded exemption still has this. Faceoffs owns it.

The two penalties a kill talks itself into

Rule

Shooting the puck directly out of the playing surface from your defending zone is a delay-of-game minor even while shorthanded, under NHL 63.2(iii), IIHF 63.2(III) and PWHL 65.2(iii) alike — so it binds a British kill too, and the IIHF's bench clause is wider than the NHL's

Rule

Never flip the puck out deliberately to buy a whistle — a deliberate shoot-out of the playing area is a minor from anywhere on the ice, no zone limit, in six books (NHL 63.2(ii), IIHF 63.2(II), PWHL 65.2(ii), USA Hockey 610(c), Hockey Canada 10.1(ii), CARHA 75(b))

Rule

The "no glass" carve-out means boards without glass, not the benches — over the glass behind the bench is penalised, only a puck straight into it is exempt (NHL 63.2(iii), PWHL 65.2(iii) and Notes; IIHF 63.2(III) says "no protective glass" and reaches glass "surrounding" the bench, wider)

Rule

A draw straight out of play is no penalty under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL "regardless as to which player may have last contacted the puck" (85.1, PWHL 87.1), yet their deliberate minor (63.2(ii), PWHL 65.2(ii)) reaches a shot out from anywhere, as in USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA — never aim it

Rule

USA Hockey writes no defending-zone limb for putting the puck out of play at all — Rule 610(c) penalises only a deliberate shoot-out, and writes it against "any player or goalkeeper" alike, while 631(d) sends an accidental one to a last-play faceoff

Rule

Hockey Canada 10.1(ii) is deliberate-only and reaches a goalie as well as a skater — but 10.1(v) is a separate minor on a goalie who "shoots or bats the puck directly out of the playing surface, with their stick" — no penalty where there is no glass, or if it touches glass or deflects

Rule

Hockey Canada 6.4(a), Junior and Senior only, where the puck was last touched in the end zone: an unintentional one is no penalty, "but the defending team may not make a line change" — most of what a kill clears for — and the goalie is excluded expressly

Rule

CARHA (adult leagues only) writes the same goalie limb as Hockey Canada — Rule 55(a), a minor on "any goalkeeper who shoots or bats the puck out of the playing surface with their stick", no deliberateness word, same glass exemptions; 75(b) is the deliberate minor on a player

Rule

Smothering the puck to force a whistle costs a kill the same two minutes — a minor on a skater other than the goalie who deliberately falls on or gathers it in (NHL 63.2(v), IIHF 63.2(V), PWHL 65.2(v), USA Hockey 614(a), Hockey Canada 10.2(a)(iv)), and a penalty shot inside your own crease

Rule

The smothering minor excludes the goalie, but that is no permission for them — NHL 63.2(vii) makes it a minor on a goalie freezing the puck in their own crease "unless he is actually being checked by an opponent", IIHF 63.2(VII) writes "they", and USA Hockey 610(b) needs no warning first

Action

Aim clears hard and flat, not over the glass — a clear played hard off the glass and staying in is exactly what you want

Both cost you two minutes rather than a faceoff, and both are mistakes a tired kill makes trying to get the puck out.

• The first is putting it over the glass. Aim your clears hard and flat, not lofted. A clear played hard off the glass that stays in the rink is exactly what you want, and a deflection out is fine. ⚠️ A clean clear straight over the glass from your own zone is a delay-of-game minor even while shorthanded under the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL, and a second penalty is a 5-on-3. Because the IIHF writes it, it binds a British kill too. ⚠️ Never flip it out on purpose to buy a whistle: a deliberate shoot-out is a minor from anywhere on the ice, in all six books.
• The second is the more expensive: smothering the puck to beg for a whistle — set out in Smothering the puck below.

What it costs — the exceptions and where the books differ.

• No glass, no penalty: where a stretch of boards has no glass above it, the zone minor does not apply.
• The benches: a puck shot straight into the players' bench is no penalty; one shot over the glass behind the bench is — the IIHF says glass "surrounding" the bench, which reaches further. ⚠️ Do not aim for the bench: the IIHF Situation Handbook gives the minor for a puck that clears the glass and then drops into the bench, because what counts is where it leaves the playing surface.
• Off a faceoff: a draw that goes straight out of play is no penalty under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL, but their deliberate minor reaches a puck shot out from anywhere, and none says which rule wins for a draw aimed out. Never aim it.
• USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA write no zone limb, so an accidental flip over the glass by a skater costs no penalty — but a deliberate one is the minor, and it reaches a goalie as much as a skater. In Hockey Canada's Junior and Senior divisions an accidental one from your own end also costs the defending team its line change, which on a kill is most of what you were clearing for.
• Goalies under Hockey Canada and CARHA have a limb of their own with no deliberately in it: a goalie who shoots or bats the puck directly out of the playing surface with their stick takes a minor, unless there is no glass there or it touches the glass or deflects off a player or official first. Neither book says whether it needs intent, so ⚠️ plan for the stricter reading and keep your goalie's clears under the glass. Risk Management carries the books in full.

Smothering the puck to force a whistle

Rule

A skater other than the goalie who deliberately falls on or gathers the puck into their body takes a minor in six books (NHL 63.2(v), IIHF 63.2(V), PWHL 65.2(v) and USA Hockey 614(a) for delay of game; Hockey Canada 10.2(a)(iv) for handling the puck; CARHA 58(a) for falling on it)

Rule

Three of the six books condition that minor — USA Hockey 614(a) reaches the act only where it is "deeming the puck unplayable and causing a stoppage of play", Hockey Canada 10.2(a)(iv) only "while standing or laying on the ice" and CARHA 58(a) only "while standing or lying on the ice"

Rule

Fall on or gather a puck in your own crease as a skater and it is a penalty shot (NHL 67.4, NHL and IIHF 63.6, PWHL 65.6, CARHA 58(c), Hockey Canada 4.11(a)(v)), and Hockey Canada 10.2(a)(v) adds where "the infraction occurs": a cover from inside the crease is the shot there, puck outside or not

Rule

USA Hockey writes that escalation as "a penalty shot/optional minor penalty" (614(b)), and 406(a) gives the election to the NON-OFFENDING team — so it never buys you the cheaper one, and electing the minor does put a second man off

Rule

The puck decides in five books, and Hockey Canada adds where you are — NHL 63.6: "If the puck is in the crease, penalty shot. If the puck is outside the crease and gathered into the body of a player (other than the goalkeeper) who is inside the crease, minor penalty"; IIHF 63.6 and PWHL 65.6 alike

Rule

With your own goalie pulled it is an awarded goal, not a shot — NHL and IIHF 67.5, PWHL 69.5, CARHA 58(c) Note 1, Hockey Canada 10.2(a)(vi) where the infraction is in the crease; USA Hockey 614(b) only where the act "has prevented an obvious and imminent goal"

Rule

Play to CARHA 58(c): with your net empty, any cover in your own crease is the goal. Its Note 1 reads flat — "If the goalkeeper has been removed from the ice, then a goal is awarded" — though the Rule 36(b) it points to needs a shot and an "obvious and imminent goal" prevented

Rule

The PWHL is a sixth book, running all three tiers at the strict end — 65.2(v) is the NHL's minor word for word, 65.6 the penalty shot on the same puck-location test, and 69.5 awards the goal flat, as NHL and IIHF 67.5 do and as USA Hockey and CARHA's Rule 36(b) do not

Rule

A goalie freezing the puck in the crease is a minor unless actually being checked (NHL 63.2(vii), IIHF 63.2(VII), PWHL 65.2(vii)) or pressured (USA Hockey 610(b); Hockey Canada Interpretation 3 to 10.1(a), after a warning); in CARHA, a minor if the referee judges it an unnecessary stoppage (61(b))

Rule

CARHA 61(b) is a minor on a goalie who "deliberately holds the puck and in the opinion of the Referee, is causing an unnecessary stoppage of play"; Hockey Canada's 10.2 covers one outside their crease

Rule

The Notes to NHL 63.2(v), IIHF 63.2(V), PWHL 65.2(v) and USA Hockey 614(a) excuse a puck shot under a shot-blocker or lodged in their equipment, never a hand used to make the puck unplayable; NHL 63.2(vi), IIHF 63.2(VI) and PWHL 65.2(vi) let a goalie who came out cover the save (straight off, IIHF)

Never

Smother a loose puck to buy a whistle on the kill — the best it buys is a defensive-zone draw the tired unit that wanted it must then win a man short, and the worst is a goal

Risk

The worst case is not the penalty shot — with your own net empty it is an awarded goal, and under USA Hockey the other team may take a second man off you instead of the shot

Action

Play the puck, or knock it down and play it — NHL and IIHF 67.2 let you catch it out of the air but require you to "immediately place it or knock it down to the ice"

Play the puck, or knock it down and play it — never fall on it or gather it in. A tired unit wants the whistle, and the whistle it buys is a defensive-zone draw it then has to win a man short. Every book lets you knock a puck down: the NHL and IIHF let you catch it out of the air, but you "must immediately place it or knock it down to the ice", and USA Hockey stops play only if you close your hand on it and do not drop it at once. ⚠️ The permission ends the moment you hold it. Knocking it down in your own zone costs nothing on the hand-pass rule either: a hand pass inside your own defending zone is allowed in the NHL, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA.

What the rule protects is the shot-blocker, not the smother. A puck shot under you as you block is nothing; "any use of the hands to make the puck unplayable should be penalized promptly". Under USA Hockey's Casebook, a player lying in the crease with the puck shot under them draws no penalty — but "if the player makes any action to cover the puck by gathering it into their body", the penalty shot or awarded goal applies.

Do not hand the job to your goalie when nobody is near them either. A goalie who freezes the puck in their crease to stop play takes a minor unless they are actually being checked (NHL, IIHF, PWHL) or pressured (USA Hockey; Hockey Canada after one warning), and so does one who races out to jump on a loose puck. Covering a shot they came out to stop, in front of the net, is allowed if they cover it straight off the save rather than dropping it and covering again — in the NHL, IIHF and PWHL, and in USA Hockey's Casebook when attackers are close enough to pressure them. A goalie told otherwise will let a savable rebound sit. Hockey Canada allows it in one clause and bars freezing outside the crease in another, without saying which wins — so under Hockey Canada, play it out.

What it costs. Three tiers, and on a kill you live a stride from the worst of them:

• A minor, in all six books, for a skater who deliberately falls on or gathers the puck into their body. USA Hockey reaches it only where it makes the puck unplayable and stops play; Hockey Canada and CARHA only while you are standing or lying on the ice.
• A penalty shot if the puck is in your own crease. In five books the puck's location decides; ⚠️ Hockey Canada also gives the shot where the infraction is in the crease, so play a cover from inside your crease as the shot even with the puck outside it. In five books the shot is the whole price. Under USA Hockey the other team chooses between the shot and a minor, so a kill already a man short can end up at 5-on-3.
• An awarded goal if your own goalie is pulled — flat in the NHL, IIHF and PWHL; in Hockey Canada where the infraction is in the crease; under USA Hockey only where the smother "has prevented an obvious and imminent goal". CARHA writes it both ways, so ⚠️ play to its flat answer: with your net empty, any cover in your own crease is the goal.

Shot blocking

Key

Blocking shots is a technique, not an act of courage

Position

Be in the lane before the shot, not sliding into it — sliding gets you a puck off the ankle and a shooter who has already changed their angle

Never

Block from a screening position — half-deflecting a shot your goalie could not see is worse than letting it through cleanly

Action

If you cannot get properly into the lane, get out of it

Convention

How much your team blocks at all is a coaching choice, not a law — some kills want defenders collapsing and blocking aggressively, others want the lane taken away on your feet with the goalie seeing everything; find out which yours plays and ask your goalie

Key

Block from close and on your feet, head out of the lane, hands behind you with the backs of the gloves out — the full technique is in Body Contact and Battles and Defender

Never

Lift a leg, turn your back or go sideways, or lunge. Stay on your feet until the puck is actually released

Never

Lead with your stick — a puck off an outstretched blade tends to go upward, often into your face (coaching craft); keep the stick flat on the ice beside you

Blocking shots is a technique, not an act of courage. The full technique is in Body Contact and Battles and Defender. One part of it travels with everything below, because all of it puts you in a shooting lane: where your head, hands and stick go. Block from close, head out of the lane, hands behind your body with the backs of the gloves out. Tucking them behind your shin pads is the form for a block taken on the ice, not a standing one. Never lift a leg, never turn your back or go sideways, and never lunge — stay on your feet until the puck is actually released. And block with your body, not your stick: a puck deflected off an outstretched blade tends to go upward, often into your own face — widely taught coaching craft rather than anything measured — so keep the stick flat on the ice beside you, or out of the lane. Your stick's job on a kill is the passing lane, set out in Stick lanes.

Two things are specific to the kill:

• You are blocking on purpose, not by accident, which means you should be in the lane before the shot, not sliding into it. Sliding gets you a puck off the ankle and a shooter who has already changed their angle.
• Never block from a screening position. Half-deflecting a shot your goalie could not see is worse than letting it through cleanly. If you cannot get properly into the lane, get out of it.

How much your team blocks at all is a coaching choice, not a law. Some kills want defenders collapsing and blocking aggressively in front of the goalie; others want the lane taken away on your feet, with the goalie left seeing everything. Neither is right in the abstract, and a kill that blocks less is not a kill that is being soft. Ask your coach which they want, and ask your goalie what they want — Body Contact and Battles sets out the choice and the full list of when not to block.

Stick lanes

Position

Blade flat on the ice, out in front of your body, in the passing lane — not on the puck carrier

Key

Sticks in lanes deter far more passes than they intercept

Priority

Take away the seam first, and point the stick at the most dangerous option rather than at the puck

Action

Concede the perimeter pass — the puck is being handled by someone your teammate already has

Technique

Stay in a low stance with your knees bent; you cannot make a quick lateral adjustment from standing

The most valuable and least visible thing you do on a kill.

• Blade flat on the ice, out in front of your body, in the passing lane — not on the puck carrier. Sticks in lanes deter far more passes than they intercept.
• Take away the seam first, and point the stick at the most dangerous option rather than at the puck. The puck is being handled by someone your teammate already has; the perimeter pass is the one you are happy to concede.
• Stay in a low stance with your knees bent. You cannot make a quick lateral adjustment from standing.

The discipline not to chase

Mindset

The power play wants you to chase — perimeter possession is not a threat, taking the bait is

Read

Chase only when the puck can actually be won — a bobbled reception, a player with their back turned, a puck on the boards with no support

Never

Finish a check on a turned back — if you can see their numbers, pull up and play the puck; every book but the IIHF can make it a match penalty without the boards

Risk

If you chase and miss, you have created the seam yourself

Action

Talk constantly — call switches, call the bumper, call the backdoor

Action

Clear, then change, in that order; change when you can, not when you must, because a tired killer chases

The power play wants you to chase. Every pass around the perimeter is an invitation, and perimeter possession is not a threat — taking the bait is. If you chase and miss, you have created the seam yourself: four players cannot cover a five-player shape with one of them out of position.

Chase only when the puck can actually be won — a bobbled reception, a player with their back turned, a puck on the boards with no support. ⚠️ A turned back tells you the puck is winnable and nothing else. Go for the puck, not through the man — if you cannot get the puck without going through the player's back, you were never winning it. A hit from behind ends your game in most books and can be a match penalty in every book but the IIHF; the full price is under Killing the entry.

Talk constantly while you do it: most kill breakdowns are two players making different assumptions, so call switches, call the bumper, call the backdoor (On-Ice Communication). And change when you can, not when you must — a tired killer chases. Clear, then change, in that order.

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Shorthanded offence

Read

Take it when the turnover handed you a genuine 2-on-1 or breakaway, not one you have to manufacture with speed

Read

Take it when the turnover happened above the puck, so their players are behind you, and you can get there before their point player recovers

Never

Take it on a 2-on-2 or worse, when your partner has not seen it, when protecting a lead late, or when you are the last player back

Priority

The default is always get the puck out, then change — the rush is the exception you take when it is free

Key

If it is a footrace you will lose it is not a rush; if you have to think about whether it is on, it is not on

A shorthanded rush is one of the highest-value plays in hockey and one of the easiest ways to lose a game. The difference is entirely the read.

Take it when all three of these hold. The turnover handed you a genuine odd-man rush — a 2-on-1 or a breakaway — rather than one you would have to manufacture with speed. It happened above the puck, so their players are behind you (a power play with four players below the puck is defenceless). And you can get there before their point player recovers. If it is a footrace you will lose, it is not a rush.

Do not take it if any one of these is true. It is a 2-on-2 or worse: lose the puck and you are 4-on-5 again, with two players out of the play and them entering with speed. Your partner has not seen it, so the "rush" is you alone turning it over at their line and skating 180 feet back. You are protecting a lead late (clear it and change — see Game Management). Or you are the last player back.

The default is always: get the puck out, then change. The rush is the exception you take when it is free. If you have to think about whether it is on, it is not on. Fuller treatment of the trade-off in Risk Management.

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BOTH

4-on-4 and 3-on-3

4-on-4

Key

Each player has a quarter more ice, and the extra room is mostly in the middle, so skill and skating matter more and structure matters less

Risk

With only two forwards back you have one fewer support layer, and a 2-on-1 arrives faster and with more room

Never

Activate as a defenceman more than you would at even strength — being caught is an immediate odd-man rush the other way

Action

Change on possession in the offensive zone or after a clear; a change with the puck live hands them a rush against three

Action

Support the puck with short options and quick movement — do not spread out, exactly as at 5-on-5

Coincidental penalties (below) put both teams at four skaters under NHL rules; under the IIHF book they bring immediate substitution and the teams stay five a side, so a British 4-on-4 comes from a minor against a major instead. Two fewer bodies on the same sheet changes the game more than the numbers suggest: each player has a quarter more ice, and the extra room is mostly in the middle, so skill and skating matter more and structure matters less.

• You have one fewer support layer defensively. With only two forwards back, the backchecking centre's middle-lane job (see Centre) becomes everyone's problem, and a 2-on-1 arrives faster and with more room.
• Defencemen should activate less, not more. The open ice tempts you into the rush; the punishment for being caught is an immediate odd-man rush the other way.
• Change with extreme care — a change with the puck live at 4-on-4 hands them a rush against three. Change on possession in the offensive zone, or after a clear.
• Support the puck, do not spread out. The instinct in open ice is to stretch; the right play is short support options and quick movement, exactly as at 5-on-5.

3-on-3 overtime

Rule

NHL regular-season overtime is five minutes of 3-on-3 sudden death then a shootout; playoff overtime is 20-minute periods at 5-on-5 (Rules 84.1, 84.4, 84.5)

Priority

Possession is the whole game — you cannot be scored on while you have the puck

Action

Carry the puck back out to the neutral zone and reset rather than forcing a low-percentage attack; the regroup is legal and standard practice

Read

Attack only with a numerical advantage — a 2-on-1 is nearly a goal, a 1-on-1 is nothing

Action

Isolate a defender in space and go at them, but do not chase the puck as a group

Never

Change on the fly with the puck loose. Change by holding possession instead, often passing back to the goalie, who retains and replays it rather than freezing it

Rule

A goalie freezing the puck in the crease is a minor unless actually being checked (NHL 63.2(vii), IIHF 63.2(VII), PWHL 65.2(vii)) or pressured (USA Hockey 610(b); Hockey Canada Interpretation 3 to 10.1(a), after a warning); in CARHA, a minor if the referee judges it an unnecessary stoppage (61(b))

Rule

A penalty in overtime makes it 4-on-3, not 3-on-2 — the non-offending team adds a skater (NHL Rule 84.3, matched by IIHF 84.3)

Rule

A goalie pulled for an extra attacker in regular-season overtime must wait for a stoppage to return and cannot change on the fly (NHL Rule 84.2, PWHL 86.2); IIHF 84.2 sets no such restriction

Rule

IIHF overtime is 3-on-3 throughout — five minutes in preliminary games and ten in playoff and bronze medal games, with no 5-on-5 playoff format (IIHF Rules 84.1, 84.5)

Rule

Under the In-House Rules overtime is played only in NIHL, and in SNL where its regulations provide; NIHL National is five minutes of 3-on-3 then three shooters a side (Rule 84)

NHL regular-season overtime is five minutes of 3-on-3, sudden death, followed by a shootout if nobody scores (Rule 84.1, 84.4). Playoff overtime is full 20-minute periods at 5-on-5 — the 3-on-3 format does not apply (Rule 84.5).

How the game changes: there is no forecheck worth the name, no cycle, and nowhere to hide. Everything is possession and odd-man rushes.

Strategy that actually works:

• Possession is the whole game. You cannot be scored on while you have the puck. The format has shifted from run-and-gun to a deliberate, possession-first approach precisely because of this.
• The regroup is a weapon. Carrying the puck back out to the neutral zone to reset, rather than forcing a low-percentage attack, is standard practice at NHL level. The League's general managers discussed limiting it in November 2023 (Dan Rosen, NHL.com, summarising Colin Campbell), but discussion is not adoption: the NHL's 2025-2026 rules contain no restriction, so the regroup is legal.
• Attack only with a numerical advantage. A 2-on-1 in 3-on-3 is nearly a goal. A 1-on-1 is nothing. Wait for the extra man rather than driving into a set defender.
• Never change on the fly with the puck loose. A bad change at 3-on-3 is a breakaway. Teams change by holding possession — often passing back to the goalie, who retains and replays it: settles it, keeps it live, and moves it back out once the change is made. ⚠️ Not freezes it. A goalie who covers the puck to force a stoppage when they are not being checked (or, under the IIHF and USA Hockey, pressured) takes a minor without warning under the NHL (63.2(vii), 67.3), the IIHF (63.2(VII), 67.3) and USA Hockey (610(b)), and under Hockey Canada after one warning (Interpretation 3 to Rule 10.1(a), clause iii). The stoppage hands the other team the draw and the reset anyway. Pass it back to your goalie to be replayed, not to be caught.
• Isolate and attack. With one defender to beat, the point is to get a defender alone in space and go at them. Support arrives too slowly to help them.
• Do not chase the puck as a group. Three players chasing is nobody home.

Penalties in overtime (Rule 84.3):

• A penalty in 3-on-3 overtime makes it 4-on-3, not 3-on-2 — the non-offending team adds a skater. The three-skater floor from the 5-on-3 section above is what forces this.
• If both teams take a minor at the same stoppage with nothing else on the clock, play continues 3-on-3.
• A two-man advantage in overtime is played 5-on-3: the offending team stays at three and the other team goes to five.
• Carry-over: 5-on-3 at the end of regulation starts overtime 5-on-3; 4-on-4 at the end of regulation starts overtime 3-on-3.
• Pulled goalies in regular-season overtime cannot change on the fly. Rule 84.2: once removed for an extra attacker, the goalie "must wait for the next stoppage of play before returning to his position. He cannot change 'on the fly.' If he does, a bench minor penalty shall be assessed for having an ineligible player." Only the NHL and the PWHL (86.2) write it. IIHF Rule 84.2 is a single sentence — "A team shall be allowed to pull its goalkeeper in favor of an additional skater in the overtime period" — and attaches no return restriction and no bench minor.

Overtime in Britain

Check whether you get overtime at all, and then which one.

The five-on-the-clock rules above are yours. IIHF Rule 84.3 is materially identical to NHL 84.3: a penalty makes it 4-on-3, coincidental minors with nothing else on the clock continue 3-on-3, a two-man advantage is played 5-on-3, and the carry-over ladder comes to the same thing. Both books write in the three-skater floor: the IIHF's "⁠[a]t no time will a team have less than three" skaters on the ice, the NHL's "⁠[a]t no time will a team have less than three players on the ice."

The format is not. IIHF overtime is 3-on-3 all the way up: five minutes in a round-robin or preliminary-round game (84.1) and ten minutes in a playoff, relegation, classification or bronze medal game (84.5), each "with each team at a numerical strength of three" skaters and one goalie. There is no IIHF equivalent of the NHL's 20-minute 5-on-5 playoff overtime — but the Elite League writes its own. Its Motorpoint EIHL Casebook 26-27 keeps five minutes of 3-on-3 for the regular season and the Challenge Cup group stage. In a Challenge Cup elimination game, a playoff semi-final, and the second leg of a two-legged playoff quarter-final or Challenge Cup semi-final when the aggregate score is tied, overtime opens with a 20-minute period at 5-on-5, then 3-on-3 periods until somebody scores. The first leg has no overtime. Both finals play on in 20-minute sudden-death periods, and the bronze-medal game has no overtime at all and is decided in a shootout (clause (5)). So in an Elite League overtime that opens at 5-on-5, a penalty in that first period is an ordinary 5-on-4, not a 4-on-3.

Below the Elite League, the IHUK In-House Rules amend IIHF Rule 84 — overtime — on top of that. Overtime "is only played in NIHL fixtures and in SNL fixtures where specifically provided for in competition regulations" — in most English and Scottish hockey a tied game simply ends tied, and none of this section applies. Where it is played, NIHL National league and group-stage playoff games use five minutes of 3-on-3, then a game-winning-shots competition with three shooters per team; the NIHL National playoff semi-finals use 20 minutes of 5-on-5 and the Final successive 20-minute 5-on-5 sudden-death periods with no shootout. Two details that catch people out in the rest period: teams do not change ends for overtime, and penalised players must stay in the box while goalies may go to the bench. The full amendment list is in UK and England Rules; your league's own competition regulations are above both.

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Coincidental penalties, expiring penalties and 6-on-4

Coincidental penalties

Rule

One minor to each team at the same stoppage, with nothing else on the clocks, is served without substitution and both teams play 4-on-4 (NHL Rule 19.1)

Rule

Under IIHF Rule 19.1 coincidental minors bring immediate substitution and the teams stay five a side — Britain reaches 4-on-4 by a minor against a major at the same stoppage (Appendix IV Table 13, Table 15 in 2025/26), just not by this one

Rule

But not late — a minor against a major at the same stoppage is 5-on-4 under IIHF 19.3 in the last five minutes of regulation and at any time in overtime, the differential served as a major. NHL 19.4 is the same rule

Rule

If at least one team was already shorthanded, substitution is immediate and the on-ice strength does not change (NHL Rule 19.1)

Rule

Coincidental minors make neither team shorthanded, so a goal scored during 4-on-4 releases nobody from the box (NHL Rule 16.2)

Rule

Where several penalties are assessed at once, equal majors cancel first, then equal minors, and any remaining differential is served normally (NHL Rule 19.5)

Convention

Rec and minor-hockey leagues frequently differ — several substitute immediately so both teams stay at five; check your league

Under NHL Rule 19.1, when one minor is assessed to a player from each team at the same stoppage, with nothing else on the penalty clocks, the penalties are served without substitution and both teams play 4-on-4 for two minutes. The coincidental-minors 4-on-4 is the NHL's and the PWHL's (19.1), not the IIHF's, so not Britain's. IIHF Rule 19.1 requires "immediate substitution" for an equal number of minors. The IIHF Situation Handbook, its book of worked interpretations, confirms it at Situation 84.10, on two coincidental roughing minors late in the third: "Since the penalties are coincidental, the penalties are not served on the clock and the teams are playing 5 – 5." Britain still reaches 4-on-4 by other routes at the same stoppage — a minor to one team against a major to the other does it (IIHF Appendix IV Table 13, Table 15 in 2025/26, examples 18-20 and 32 word for word in both) — so the tactical material below still applies. It is only this trigger that differs.

The minor-against-major route to 4-on-4 closes in the last five minutes of regulation and at any point in overtime. IIHF Rule 19.3 is headed "Last Five Minutes and Overtime", and it takes exactly that pair — a minor or double minor to one team, a major to the other, at the same stoppage — and directs that the three-minute (or one-minute) differential "shall be served immediately as a major penalty." The Appendix IV table's own example 19, the same number in both editions, answers the pair twice: normally the teams play 4-on-4, but late "Team B will play short-handed for three minutes and it will be served in the same manner as a major penalty." ⚠️ So the strength is 5-on-4 for three minutes, not 4-on-4, and the team that took the major must place "the penalized Player or replacement Player in the penalty box immediately." NHL Rule 19.4 is the same rule in materially the same words, so this is not a British departure. Two details in the NHL's do differ: it reaches a match penalty as well as a major, and for a major it wants the replacement in the box "prior to expiration of the penalty" rather than immediately.

• If at least one team was already shorthanded, the rule works differently: immediate substitution is made for the matching penalties, so the on-ice strength does not change, and those players wait for the first stoppage after their time expires to come out.
• Coincidental minors do not make either team "shorthanded" (Rule 16.2). This matters: a goal scored during 4-on-4 does not release anybody from the box.
• Where multiple penalties are assessed at once, referees cancel out equal numbers of majors first and then equal numbers of minors, and any remaining time differential is served normally (Rule 19.5).
• Rec and minor-hockey leagues frequently differ here — several play coincidental minors with immediate substitution so both teams stay at five. Check your league.

Penalties expiring

Rule

A goal against a shorthanded team ends the minor with the least time remaining — minors and bench minors only, not majors, and not on a penalty shot (NHL Rule 16.2)

Action

On the power play, know the clock — the last ten seconds are your best chance, because the kill's concentration dips

Read

On the kill, the player coming out of the box is a fresh attacker arriving from the side at full speed with nobody assigned to them

Action

Whoever is nearest calls "man coming out!" and picks them up

Action

If you are the player leaving the box, sprint — you are the most dangerous player on the ice for about three seconds

Technique

While you are in the box, watch the play rather than the clock, and come out facing the ice

The seconds around a penalty ending are among the most dangerous in hockey, in both directions.

• A goal against a shorthanded team ends the minor with the least time remaining (Rule 16.2). Minors and bench minors only — not majors, and not when the goal comes on a penalty shot.
• On the power play, know the clock. The last ten seconds are your best chance: the kill is watching the clock too, and their concentration dips.
• On the kill, the player coming out of the box is a fresh attacker arriving from the side of the rink at full speed with nobody assigned to them. Whoever is nearest must call it — "man coming out!" is one of the most useful things anyone says on a rink — and pick them up. If you are the player leaving the box, sprint; you are the most dangerous player on the ice for about three seconds. While you are in there, watch the play, not the clock, and come out facing the ice.

6-on-4

Key

Pulling the goalie on a power play makes it 6-on-4, the largest advantage in hockey, and it is used far less than the arithmetic suggests

Position

As the power play, put two at the net front and send the extra body to the bumper or the backdoor, never the perimeter

Action

Move the puck quickly and accept that blocking lanes will be crowded

Countered by

The empty net — a killer who wins a puck can legally clear it 180 feet into it, and it counts

Action

As the kill, block shots from in the lane, on your feet, head out of the lane, never from a screening position; keep sticks in lanes and clear low, head up, looking for the empty net

Rule

Over the glass from your own zone is a minor, shorthanded or not, under NHL 63.2(iii), IIHF 63.2(III) and PWHL 65.2(iii); USA Hockey 610(c), Hockey Canada 10.1(ii) and CARHA 75(b) need it deliberate, but a goalie's stick clear under HC 10.1(v) or CARHA 55(a) has no intent word, so expect the minor

Rule

The deliberate limb has no zone limit in any of the six books — flip the puck out on purpose anywhere on the ice and it is a minor (NHL 63.2(ii), IIHF 63.2(II), PWHL 65.2(ii), USA Hockey 610(c), Hockey Canada 10.1(ii), CARHA 75(b))

Rule

Hockey Canada 10.1(v) and CARHA 55(a) each put a minor on a goalie alone who shoots or bats the puck out of the playing surface with the stick, no deliberateness word; both exempt a no-glass spot, or a puck that touches glass or deflects off a player or official

Rule

On a signalled delayed penalty the non-offending team pulls its goalie for 6-on-5, and play continues until the penalised team gains control (NHL Rule 15.1)

Risk

In that window the danger is not a shot against — it is your own player shooting the puck into your own empty net

Pulling the goalie during a power play, late in a game, to make it 6-on-4.

• It is the largest advantage in hockey and is used far less than the arithmetic suggests: two extra attackers against four killers means genuine 2-on-1s everywhere and a kill that cannot pressure at all. The kill's counter is the empty net, and it is a real one — a killer who wins a puck can clear it 180 feet into that net legally, because a puck that enters the net is a goal regardless — and where the shorthanded icing exemption applies, a clear that misses is not icing either.
• As the power play: put two at the net front and send the extra body where it forces a decision — the bumper or the backdoor, never the perimeter. Move the puck quickly and accept that blocking lanes will be crowded.
• As the kill: shot blocking and stick lanes matter more than ever. Block from in the lane before the shot, on your feet with your head out of the lane, never from a screening position — Shot blocking covers it. Clear with your head up looking for the empty net, and keep it low. ⚠️ Over the glass from your own zone is still a minor under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL, meant or not. Under USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA it must be deliberate, but that reaches a goalie as much as a skater — and Hockey Canada and CARHA give the goalie their own minor with no deliberately in it. Keep every clear under the glass.
• A related situation: on a delayed penalty in the Rule 15.1 sense — the referee's arm is up, the infraction has been signalled, and the offending team does not yet have the puck — the non-offending team pulls its goalie for a 6-on-5. Play continues until the team to be penalised gains control of the puck (Rule 15.1), so the risk is not a shot against; it is your own player shooting the puck into your own empty net. See Breakouts for how to play the puck in that window.

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Faceoffs on special teams

In short: Agree where the draw is going before you line up, and keep your wingers still until the puck drops.

Goal

With a man advantage, winning the draw skips the zone entry entirely; a skater short, losing it means defending a set power play from the first second

Rule

The team awarded the power play chooses which end-zone dot the draw starts at under NHL and IIHF 76.2 and PWHL 78.2, and in Hockey Canada Junior and Senior (6.4(b)); USA Hockey and CARHA give no choice. Where you have it, pick your one-timer's side

Rule

After an icing the other team picks the dot; the icing team gets no timeout and no change bar injury, a goalie's return or a penalty changing strength — NHL and IIHF 81.2, 81.4, 87.1; PWHL 83.2, 83.4, 89.1; Hockey Canada 6.4(b) the dot, Junior and Senior. USA Hockey and CARHA impose none

Never

Fire a loose puck the length of the ice while on the power play — under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL that hands the kill the choice of dot and freezes your tired unit; every book stops play in your end

Rule

Encroachment ejects your centre from the dot, not the encroaching player, in all six books (NHL 76.6); a second violation on the same draw is a bench minor under NHL and IIHF 76.7 and PWHL 78.7, a minor on the offender under USA Hockey 613(d), discretionary under CARHA 57(d), adult leagues only

Rule

A second violation on the same draw is a discretionary minor under Hockey Canada 6.2(e) — mandatory on a Junior draw after an icing (6.5(b)), and where the offender then contacts the Linesperson before the Linesperson could leave the dot, so let the official clear before you move

Rule

The IIHF 2025/26 book made a teammate's encroachment a warning, not an ejection; the 2026/27 book ejects the draw-taker as the NHL does (76.6) and makes helmet-to-helmet contact at the dot a faceoff violation of its own where the older book warned (76.7(III))

Rule

In Britain you lose your centre either way — the IHUK In-House Rules 2026-27 replace them "for all violations" bar post-icing draws (Section 10, Rule 76), and an Elite League draw, which those rules never name, sits on IIHF 2026/27 76.6, which ejects the centre anyway

Rule

Physical contact at the dot by a player facing off is a minor on its own, and a man short that is the 5-on-3 with no second violation needed — mandatory under USA Hockey 613(e), Hockey Canada 6.2(c) and CARHA 57(b), adult leagues only, discretionary only under NHL and IIHF 76.7 and PWHL 78.7

Rule

Home last change is forfeited after your own icing — the team in violation may not substitute before the next faceoff bar an injury, a goalie's return or a penalty changing strength (NHL 81.4, 82.1), which USA Hockey lacks and Hockey Canada 6.7(d) runs in U18AAA, Junior and optionally Senior

Rule

IIHF 81.2, 81.4 and 87.1 impose all three icing consequences in the NHL's words, so this is the UK position — bar one extra 81.4 exception, "a Player with a broken skate", which its own 82.1 omits; a substitution sent back is a warning, or a bench minor if your bench has already had one (82.2(V))

Action

Agree the play before you line up — where the win is going, or whether you are tying up for a winger to sweep, and where the clear goes

Faceoffs matter disproportionately when the numbers are uneven: with a man advantage, winning the draw means you skip the zone entry entirely — the hardest part of the power play, gone. A skater short, losing the draw means defending a set power play from the first second. Technique, alignment and the set plays themselves are in Faceoffs.

What to actually do: agree the play before you line up — on the power play, whether you are winning it back to the point, to the half-wall, or forward; on the kill, whether you are winning it clean for a clear or tying up for a winger to sweep, and where that clear is going.

The rules that give you an edge here — check them against your own league:

• Where your book gives it, the power-play team picks the dot (NHL, IIHF and PWHL 76.2/78.2; Hockey Canada Junior and Senior only). Pick the side that suits your one-timer, not the side the puck happened to be on.

• Never ice the puck on the power play. Under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL, after an icing the attacking team picks the dot — and when the power play ices it, that is the kill. Under the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL your tired unit also cannot change lines (bar an injury, a goalie coming back on for the extra skater, a penalty that changes strength or, in one of two IIHF clauses, a broken skate — do not count on it) or take a timeout, so you have handed yourself a defensive-zone draw a man up. Under the IIHF, and so in Britain, a bench that tries to change anyway is sent back with a warning, and a team already warned takes a bench minor. USA Hockey imposes neither ban, so there it costs you only the draw. (The kill itself cannot be called for icing, subject to the two carve-outs above.)

• Keep your wingers off the hash marks until the drop. In all six books encroachment gets your centre thrown out of the circle, not the winger — your best draw-taker, on the most important faceoff of the shift. (The NHL, IIHF and PWHL spare them on the first violation after an icing; so does Hockey Canada in Junior.) A second violation by the same team on the same draw is an automatic penalty in four books — a bench minor under the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL, a minor on the offender under USA Hockey — and the referee's call under Hockey Canada and CARHA. ⚠️ On a kill, any of those is a 5-on-3. Hockey Canada makes it mandatory on a Junior draw after an icing, and where the offender then bumps the linesperson before they can leave the dot — so let the official clear before you move. Faceoffs sets the split out in full.

  If you were taught the IIHF's old answer, unlearn it: the 2025/26 book gave a warning for encroachment and left your centre on the dot; the 2026/27 book ejects them as the NHL does. In Britain you lose your centre either way. Below the Elite League, the IHUK In-House Rules 2026-27 replace the centre "for all violations" except on draws after an icing; an Elite League draw sits on the IIHF 2026/27 book, which ejects them too and spares only the first violation after an icing. A second violation is still a bench minor, post-icing draws included. ⚠️ Read an old IIHF warning as a counted violation, not a free one. (Only some IIHF rules, listed in the Sources, have been read in the 2026/27 edition; the rest of this document's IIHF citations rest on the 2025/26 book.)

  Contact at the dot is a quicker route to a 5-on-3. A centre who makes physical contact with their opponent, by body or stick, before the draw is completed takes a minor on their own — no second violation needed. ⚠️ It is mandatory under USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA, and the referee's call only under the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL, though those three also have your centre replaced for it (the IIHF since 2026/27) — so plan the draw as though contact is an automatic minor. Since 2026/27 the IIHF also counts helmet-to-helmet contact between the centres as a faceoff violation, against both if the linesperson cannot tell who started it. Win the draw with your stick, not by leaning on theirs.

  Related, and the same in both books: do not crowd the scrum after a penalty is called; players coming into the attacking zone beyond the outer edge of the end-zone circle during a gathering move the draw out to the neutral zone (Rule 76.2), throwing away your offensive-zone start for nothing.

• The home team has last change — but not after its own icing. Under the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL the team that iced it cannot change, home or away (bar an injury, a goalie coming back on for the extra skater, a penalty that changes strength or, in one of two IIHF clauses, a broken skate — do not count on it), and the other team can — so when the opponent ices it you get the free matchup. Under USA Hockey an icing costs you only the draw, taken in your own end on the side the puck was shot from. CARHA writes no bar either, but tells referees to be strict with "a SERIES OF ICINGS". Hockey Canada runs the no-change bar only in U18AAA and Junior, and in Senior at the Member's option — and even there allows the timeout, without a change. See Faceoffs.

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The goalie's role on both

Action

On the kill, tell your goalie what you are conceding — a kill that never says this makes its goalie guess

Action

On the kill, agree the retrieval before it starts; they can stop a rim behind the net and leave it stationary for you

Rule

NHL and IIHF goalies may play the puck behind the goal line only inside the trapezoid (NHL 27.8, IIHF 27.7), bar skate contact with the crease; KHL reportedly too, unverified. USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA write none; PWHL goalies play as if it binds: 1.8 drops it, 65.2(viii) keeps the minor

Rule

No trapezoid is no licence for your goalie either — USA Hockey 614(c) still makes freezing the puck behind the goal line from outside the crease a minor, and Hockey Canada Interpretation 3 to Rule 10.1(a), clause v, gives a minor with "No warning will be issued" for freezing it outside the crease

Rule

Out of the crease under Hockey Canada, have your goalie play it — clause ii of Interpretation 3 to 10.1(a) permits a cover after a cut-the-angle save, but clause v and Rule 10.2's goalie paragraph bar a freeze outside the crease, and the book never says which governs

Rule

The goalkeeper's restricted area is IIHF Rule 27.7. Nothing in the Elite League's Casebook switches it off, and England Ice Hockey's Rules & Regulations 22.3 call it "not currently enforced", scope and standing unsettled — so in Britain play as though it binds: keep your goalie inside it

Rule

England Ice Hockey 22.3, whose standing and reach are unsettled, touches only the Restricted Area — IIHF Rule 63.2(I) is a separate minor for a goalie who freezes the puck to cause a stoppage anywhere "outside of their goal crease area"; play as though the trapezoid binds your goalie

Rule

IIHF 63.2(I)'s freeze minor has a carve-out: 63.2(VI)'s Note makes it legal for your goalie to come out, cut down the angle and cover the puck straight off the save; separately, 63.2(VII) makes a freeze in the crease a minor unless the goalie is "actually being checked by an opponent"

Read

Play it as though it binds — your goalie stays inside the trapezoid, so a rim that dies in the corner is yours to fetch, not theirs

Action

On the power play, use them as a reset on a regroup and as your safety on a failed entry

Your goalie is a full participant in both special teams, not a bystander. The goalie's own game — depth, tracking, save selection under a screen — is in Goaltender. Three things to do with your goalie:

• On the kill, tell them what you are conceding. If the plan is to concede point shots, they will set their depth for a shot through traffic instead of holding for a seam pass. A kill that never says this makes its goalie guess.
• On the kill, agree the retrieval before it starts. In the NHL and IIHF your goalie may play the puck behind the goal line only inside the trapezoid, but can still stop a rim behind the net and leave it for you. USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA write no trapezoid, so there your goalie is a third puck-handler. On a PWHL kill, play as if the trapezoid binds — the PWHL switches it off but still writes the minor. ⚠️ Your goalie may move a retrieved puck on, not sit on it — freezing it out there is a minor under USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA, with no warning under Hockey Canada. (Coming out in front of the net to make a save and covering it at once is different — allowed in the NHL, IIHF and PWHL and, in USA Hockey's Casebook, when attackers are close enough to pressure them; under Hockey Canada unsettled, so have them play it.) In Britain, play as though the trapezoid binds: the IIHF and the Elite League carry it, and even where England Ice Hockey calls it "not currently enforced" (its scope and standing are unsettled), freezing the puck outside the crease is still a minor. A rim that dies in the corner is yours to fetch. See Breakouts.
• On the power play, use them as a reset. On a 5-on-4 regroup, passing back to the goalie is a legitimate way to buy a couple of seconds and change the angle of attack. They are also your safety on a failed entry, which is another reason not to force one.

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Against their goalie: where the net-front line is

In short: Screen from outside the crease with both feet off its red line, play the puck not the goalie, and stay out of their way home.

Rule

NHL and IIHF 69.1 (PWHL 71.1) let a goal come off only where an attacker's position or contact impairs the goalie's ability to move freely in the crease, or the attacker deliberately contacts the goalie in or out of the crease

Rule

USA Hockey 625(b) is a flat position bar — no goal with an attacker in the crease unless the puck got there first, a defender put them there, or the goalie is out of the crease area; its Casebook (625, Situation 9) disallows it, with a penalty, if you stop a returning goalie making a play

Rule

The shoved-into-the-crease relief answers only for your position — USA Hockey 625(a)(8) is still a minor for physical contact, by stick or body, that interferes with the goalie's movement, so it is no licence to act once you are there

Rule

NHL and IIHF 56.1, Hockey Canada's Glossary and CARHA 66(a) Note 1 put a goalie outside "possession", so blocking a returning goalie's path can be interference without contact. Stay out of the road home

Rule

Only the NHL, IIHF and PWHL write a clause for a goalie skating home, and it is narrow — 69.4 and 71.4 protect one who has already played the puck out of the crease, and say "may". USA Hockey reaches it by Casebook; Hockey Canada none, its 8.5 needing actual physical contact. Stay clear anyway

Rule

The rebound carve-out permits incidental contact only — push the goalie into the net together with the puck after a stop and the goal is disallowed with "appropriate penalties", unless a defending player fouled you into them, when it can be permitted (NHL and IIHF 69.7, 78.5(ix); PWHL 71.7)

Rule

Hockey Canada 8.5 is not flat — a teammate's goal from outside the crease stands if the net-front player stays passive, and is disallowed if they play the puck, interfere with the play or obstruct the goalie's view or movements

Rule

A screen from outside the crease is legal, and the NHL, PWHL and IIHF tables allow a goal off a screen set outside the crease; contact you start costs it anywhere under Hockey Canada 8.5, CARHA 66(b) and USA Hockey 617(c)(4)

Never

Put a skate in the blue paint or on the red line marking it. The paint risks the goal in the NHL, IIHF, PWHL, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA; the line is where they differ — keep both feet clear

Rule

In EIH and SIHA competition there is no video review of a goaltender-interference call and no coach's challenge, so the referee's on-ice judgement is final (In-House Rules, Rules 37, 38, 69.1)

Rule

An Elite League game adds three criteria to IIHF 69.1 — can the goalie still play their position and recover, did the defence cause the contact, and was it inside the crease, where "⁠[c]ontact in the blue paint area calls for disallowing a goal" (EIHL Casebook, Rule 69)

Action

Give the referee nothing to interpret at the net front in any British game — EIH and SIHA have no appeal from a live judgement, and an Elite League review is limited to the technology on hand

Where the net-front line actually is. Screen from outside the crease, in the goalie's sightline, without touching them — it is the most valuable thing a net-front player does, and it is legal. Keep both feet off the red crease line, play the puck and not the goalie in a scramble, and get out of the road of a goalie skating back to their net. ⚠️ Never touch the goalie to make room: in every book, contact you start can cost the goal and a penalty, inside the crease or out.

Under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL rule, a goal can come off the board where an attacker, "either by his positioning or by contact", impairs the goalie's ability to move freely in their crease or defend their goal — and deliberate contact costs the goal inside or outside the crease. Their tables allow a goal scored with an attacker screening from outside the crease. Under Hockey Canada, CARHA and USA Hockey, contact you make with the goalie costs the goal wherever it happens — so screen without touching them.

The line itself. The IIHF, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA all count the red line as part of the crease; the NHL and the PWHL do not say, and their tables (and the IIHF's) allow a goal with an attacker planted on the line. No book resolves that, so stand a boot-width further out, which satisfies every reading.

Contact outside the crease. The NHL and IIHF allow incidental contact only while the goalie is playing the puck outside their crease and you have made "a reasonable effort" to avoid it. ⚠️ A goalie who is not playing the puck — set at the post, tracking a point shot, skating home — is not fair game: "The appropriate penalty should be assessed in every case where an attacking player makes unnecessary contact with the goalkeeper." On a power play that penalty takes the advantage with it. Under USA Hockey even accidental contact with a goalie is penalised, as interference.

In a rebound scramble, incidental contact while you both go for a loose puck is allowed by the NHL, IIHF and PWHL; USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA write no such carve-out. ⚠️ Push the goalie into the net with the puck after a stop and the goal is disallowed, with penalties if they apply — unless a defender fouled you into the goalie. Play the puck, not the goalie.

Stay out of the road home. ⚠️ Do not block the path of a goalie skating back to their crease, even without touching them. Under USA Hockey's Casebook, interfering with a goalie trying to get back costs the goal and an interference penalty; the NHL and IIHF can penalise an attacker who deliberately keeps a goalie who has played the puck out from returning. Whether merely standing still in that lane is an offence is not settled in any book — a reason to be out of the lane, not a licence to stand in it.

USA Hockey's crease rule is stricter in another way. No goal may be scored with an attacker in the crease, whoever shoots, unless the puck got there first, a defender's foul put you there, or the goalie is out of the crease area. ⚠️ And a body that settles in the crease while your team has the puck in the zone and the goalie is touching their crease stops play for a neutral-zone faceoff — on a power play, the whistle is the punishment. A stick passing momentarily through the paint will not cost you the zone, but under the Casebook it will still cost you the goal.

Hockey Canada and CARHA bar standing in the crease too, with one exception in Hockey Canada: a teammate's goal from outside the crease stands if the player in the crease stays passive — does not play the puck, interfere with the play, or obstruct the goalie's view or movements. Feet out of the blue under every book; only the reason differs. See Rules Primer for the full comparison.

In Britain, play the net front as though the live call is the only one. Below the Elite League, the In-House Rules remove video review and the coach's challenge in EIH and SIHA competition, so the referee's on-ice judgement is final. The Elite League keeps both, limited to the technology on hand, and its Casebook lists three things the referee weighs: can the goalie still play their position and recover, did a defender cause the contact, and was it inside the crease — "Contact in the blue paint area calls for disallowing a goal." See UK and England Rules.

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What contact with their goaltender costs you — the penalty, not the goal

In short: Never start contact with a goalie to make room, and if contact is coming, be the player who visibly tried to avoid it.

Key

Everything above decides whether the goal counts; this decides whether you are still in the game — and on a power play a misconduct outlasts your advantage whatever length it runs

Rule

USA Hockey has no bare minor for checking or charging a goalie — 607(c) is "⁠[a] minor plus a misconduct or a major plus a game misconduct" in the crease or privileged area, 607(b) mandates a major plus ejection on any reckless charge anywhere — plan on a match and a likely multi-game ban (602(a))

Rule

The privileged area is not the crease — USA Hockey 607(d) Note 2 runs it from the end-zone faceoff spots perpendicular to the end boards, and Casebook 607 Situation 6 confirms it "extends to the closer end boards", so it takes in the net front and the ice behind the net

Rule

USA Hockey Rule 607(d) Note 1 decides which rule you are under — accidental or unavoidable contact stays interference, a 625(a)(8) minor; deliberate body contact or a check delivered to the goalie is charging

Rule

USA Hockey Casebook 607 Sit. 4 has three rungs, the top not the default — no penalty only if a defender forced you in and you "clearly made every attempt to avoid the contact"; minor and misconduct on an honest try; accelerating through, major and game misconduct or match and a likely multi-game ban

Rule

NHL and IIHF goalie-charge tiers are discretionary — NHL 42.2 to 42.4 minor, major, match; IIHF 42.2 to 42.4 minor, major, major plus game misconduct — except NHL 21.1 makes the match mandatory for deliberate injury or an attempt, and 42.5 a game misconduct on a major injuring face or head

Rule

Mandatory ejection: Hockey Canada 8.5(b) for any goalie charge or injuring interference, 8.5(c) a match on intent to injure; CARHA 52(b) for a crease charge or injury, 30(a) any such major — 66(b)'s deliberate-contact major is discretionary; NHL and PWHL 42.5 if a major injures face or head

Rule

USA Hockey keys its mandatory ejection to violence, not place — 607(b)'s major plus game misconduct "shall be assessed to any player who recklessly endangers an opponent as a result of charging", in or out of the crease, hurt or not; if reckless, plan on a match and a likely multi-game ban (602(a))

Rule

IHUK's In-House Rules 2026-27 leave Rule 42 to the IIHF book, so IIHF 42.2 to 42.4 — not Hockey Canada's mandatory ejection — prices a British charge; the EIHL Casebook adds a game misconduct on a major injuring face or head. Rule 42 reads alike in 2025/26 and 2026/27

Rule

Never hit a goalie from behind — off the head it ends your game in every book but USA Hockey, where a reckless or head-first one ejects (608(b)) — plan on a match and a likely multi-game ban (602(a)); defenceless into boards or net, a mandatory match (Hockey Canada 7.5(c), CARHA 53(b))

Rule

A goalie hit from behind: Hockey Canada takes the harsher of 8.5 and 7.5, or on the head of 8.5(b) and 7.6/7.7 — a match if defenceless; on the head, NHL and PWHL take the harsher of 43 and 48, and under the IIHF plan on 43.3's major and game misconduct

Action

Screen, tip and hunt rebounds from outside the paint and off its red line; never initiate contact with a goalie to make room, however much of your advantage is ticking away

What every book below has in common is the instruction. Screen, tip and hunt rebounds from outside the paint, and off the red line that marks its edge. Do not put a hand, a shoulder or a hip into a goalie to make room, and do not accelerate through a net drive that is already going to end in contact — under every book below, the cheapest thing you can be is the player who visibly tried to avoid it.

The section above decides whether a goal counts. This one decides whether you are still in the game, and on a power play that is the more expensive question: ⚠️ a misconduct is ten minutes, and your advantage is long gone before you come back. (USA Hockey lets youth affiliates shorten it to six or eight minutes; that changes nothing here.)

USA Hockey: there is no bare minor for charging a goalie. Charging or checking a goalie in the crease or privileged area is at least a minor plus a misconduct, or a major plus a game misconduct. ⚠️ A reckless charge anywhere is a mandatory major and game misconduct, and plan on a match penalty too — USA Hockey gives one to any player who "recklessly endangers or attempts to injure" an opponent. A game misconduct also suspends you for your team's next game. A match penalty suspends you from all USA Hockey games and practices until your case is dealt with. With a match, plan on a likely multi-game suspension; a hearing can raise or lower it.

The privileged area is not the crease. It runs from the end-zone faceoff spots straight to the end boards, so ⚠️ it takes in the whole net front, the goal line and the ice behind the net — where a 1-3-1 net-front player and a walk-down both live. Outside it a goalie is still not fair game, and deliberate contact is charging wherever it happens. Rink Map defines it.

Most net-front bumping is cheaper than that. Under USA Hockey, accidental or unavoidable contact with the goalie is interference, a minor; deliberate body contact or a check is charging. ⚠️ The difference is deliberateness, not force. When it is charging, USA Hockey's Casebook sets three rungs:

• No penalty only where a defender forced you into the goalie and you "clearly made every attempt to avoid the contact" — ⚠️ both, not either.
• A minor plus misconduct where you were going hard to the net and made "an honest attempt to avoid the goalkeeper" once contact was unavoidable. ⚠️ That is the best outcome once the referee calls a charge, and it still costs ten minutes. Keep driving the net; drive it under control.
• A major plus game misconduct, or a match and a likely multi-game suspension, where you recklessly endanger the goalie by accelerating through the contact, extending your arms or dropping your shoulder.

The other books, in short — none of them is a licence:

• NHL and PWHL: a charge on a goalie in their crease is a minor, a major, or a major and game misconduct, at the referee's call; a match for an attempt to injure, mandatory where it is deliberate; and a game misconduct is automatic on a major that injures the face or head.
• IIHF: a minor, a major, or a major and game misconduct for reckless endangerment, at the referee's call.
• Hockey Canada: ⚠️ any charge on a goalie is a mandatory major and game misconduct, wherever the goalie stands, and so is interference that injures them; a violent interference can draw the same; there is no ten-minute rung; and a match for an attempt to injure. Two or more strides before contact makes it a charge.
• CARHA (adult leagues only): ⚠️ a mandatory major and game misconduct for a charge on a goalie in the crease, or for one that injures. Any major for contact with a goalie ejects under CARHA, with at least a one-game ban (32(d)) — including the major the referee may give for deliberate contact with a goalie in or out of the crease. More than two strides makes it a charge, so a hard arrival from the slot can reach it.

Never arrive at a goalie from behind — that is checking from behind, and while it stays off the head it ends your game in every book but USA Hockey. The NHL, PWHL and IIHF write no minor for it. ⚠️ Hockey Canada and CARHA must give a match for putting a goalie who cannot protect themselves into the net or the boards from behind. Under USA Hockey a reckless one, or one that sends the goalie head first into the boards or goal frame, is a major and game misconduct (608(b)) — plan on a match and a likely multi-game suspension (602(a)). Under Hockey Canada take the harsher of that rule and goaltender interference. The full ladder is under Killing the entry.

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Common Mistakes

These are the errors that survive knowing the systems.

Playing the shape instead of playing the play

• Making one pass and shooting. That is even-strength hockey with a spare man. Make the first pass to move the kill and the second to beat it.
• Shooting into a kill that is already square. A point shot into four set bodies is a coin-flip on possession. This document's default is to shoot when the kill is out of shape — but that is a coaching philosophy, not a law; shot-volume power plays are coached and do work, on tips, rebounds and loose-puck retrievals. Ask your coach which one you play.
• Being an option that needs two touches. Stand so you could shoot or pass immediately, or the kill ignores you and covers the other three.
• Treating a 2-on-1 at the top of the zone as the objective. It is a step. Cash it in near the net.
• Camping the backdoor. Arrive as the shot or pass is released. A player standing there all shift is marked.
• Walking to the corner instead of to the middle. On a walk-down, head toward the dot; below the goal line and wide you are harmless. If it is denied, reset to the point.
• Sending two players after a clear. Only one chases — often the net-front player or the weak-side half-wall, but that is a coaching choice. The chaser arrives before the puck stops; if two go, nobody holds the zone.
• Pinching as the lone point player. Holding the line is your job, and a missed pinch puts you two strides deeper than a missed hold. If a clear beats you cleanly, turn and skate rather than lunge.
• Describing a 1-3-1 as having "defencemen at the points". It has one point player. Two means an umbrella, an overload or a 2-3 — name it right so your linemates know where to stand.
• Standing three players level across the blue line and calling it an umbrella. Every pass is short and lateral and the kill barely moves. An umbrella is an arc: apex highest in the middle, flanks lower.
• Playing a 5-on-3 like a better 5-on-4. Spread out, move the puck across the middle, and shoot when the goalie is moving, not into three blockers. Patient is not passive: two minutes with no shot is a failed 5-on-3.
• Reading "the kill can't pressure at 5-on-3" as "nobody will touch me." Three killers still jump a bobble and close on anyone walking into the slot. Move the puck before they close, protect it on every touch, and expect to be hit in the slot.

Killing with effort instead of with discipline

• Covering something that was never yours. Hold your own job even when the conceded area looks dangerous — a box concedes the middle, a diamond the outside and backdoor, a wedge+1 the perimeter, and the goal comes when a killer leaves their job to cover it.
• One player pressuring while the other three sit. Pressure as a unit or not at all. In a wedge+1, when the puck moves away from the +1, the nearest wedge player steps out as the new +1 and the old +1 drops in; a +1 who keeps chasing leaves you killing with three.
• Both high forwards in a box drifting to the same side. The box slides with the puck as a unit; it does not rotate or bunch. Turn your inside shoulder so you can see your point man and the middle.
• Chasing a puck that was never winnable. Go only for a bobbled reception, a turned back, or an unsupported puck on the boards — and on a turned back go for the puck, never through the man, because a hit from behind can end your game (see Mistakes that get you hurt). Chase and miss, and you have opened the seam yourself.
• Taking a shorthanded rush that is really a 2-on-2. Take only the rush the turnover handed you, with your partner having seen it. If you have to wonder whether it is on, it is not; lose it and you are 4-on-5 against speed.
• Changing when you must rather than when you can. A tired killer chases. Clear, then change.
• Never telling your goalie what you are conceding. Tell them before the kill starts, so they can set their depth for it instead of guessing.
• Blocking a shot from a screening position. Deflecting a puck your goalie never saw is worse than not blocking. If you cannot get properly into the lane, get out of it.
• Too many men on the ice during a special-teams change. Units change together; count before you go.
• Arguing about the system on the bench instead of before the game. A breakdown that looks like laziness is often two players on different assumptions. Settle it in the room.

Mistakes that cost you the advantage, or a second penalty

• Icing the puck while on the power play. Never fire a loose puck the length of the ice with the extra man — the exemption only protects the kill. You get a draw in your own end, and in several books the kill picks the dot and your tired unit cannot change. The one length-of-ice shot that is never icing, in any of the six books, is a puck sent down directly off the draw. Set out in Faceoffs on special teams.
• Declining a length-of-the-ice clear on a five-minute kill because nobody is in the penalty box. Keep firing it through a major — the NHL's and PWHL's empty-box carve-out bites when the major expires, and the IIHF has none. It does end if a penalty against them puts you level. ⚠️ And never leave the box empty: it is a separate duty. Under the IIHF missing it is a bench minor that can land mid-major and make it a 5-on-3; under the NHL and PWHL it is a bench minor too (68.2 and 70.2), and you play a player short to the next stoppage. Book by book in You may ice the puck freely.
• Assuming last change is automatic at home. After your own icing, under the NHL, the IIHF and the PWHL, the visitors can change and you cannot; other books differ. Plan the matchup on the book you are in. See Faceoffs.
• Flipping the puck out of the rink to buy a tired kill a whistle. Get it out along the ice and change instead. A deliberate shoot-out is a minor from anywhere on the ice, in six books.
• Winning a shorthanded defensive-zone draw straight out of the rink. Win it hard back to your defenceman and never aim it out. A draw steered out on purpose is a minor under USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and CARHA; the NHL, IIHF and PWHL waive the penalty for any puck that goes straight out off a draw, but none says whether that covers one aimed out — so do not find out.
• A goalie ringing a clear off the glass and out, on the reading that an accident is not a penalty. Keep it under the glass, or hand it to a defenceman. Under Hockey Canada and CARHA the goalie has a limb of their own with no deliberately in it — neither book says in terms that it is strict liability, so it is a reading to plan for. ⚠️ Plan for it anyway: the cost of being wrong is a 5-on-3. Set out in The two penalties a kill talks itself into.
• Smothering a loose puck on the kill to buy the whistle. Knock it down rather than holding it. A skater who falls on the puck or gathers it in takes a minor in every book, on conditions that vary; with the puck — or, under Hockey Canada, you — in your own crease it can be a penalty shot, and with your goalie pulled an awarded goal. Set out in Smothering the puck to force a whistle.
• Sending your best draw-taker out and then having a winger creep over the hash marks. Keep your wingers off the hash marks until the drop — your centre is the one thrown out, and a second violation is a penalty in four of six books: on a kill, a 5-on-3. ⚠️ Do not lean on theirs either: physical contact at the dot can be penalised on the first violation — mandatorily in three books. Set out in Faceoffs on special teams.
• Confusing the two things called a "delayed penalty." Watch for the referee's raised arm, not the phrase — players pull a goalie for what was really a third penalty stacking on the clock.

Mistakes at their net front

• Playing the net front as though two minutes is the worst of it. ⚠️ Make your room with position and a screen, never by initiating contact with the goalie. Under USA Hockey, charging or checking a goalie anywhere in the privileged area is at least two minutes plus a misconduct, and a reckless one throws you out of the game — plan on a match and a likely multi-game suspension. Under Hockey Canada any charge on a goalie throws you out wherever the goalie stands, as does interference that injures them; under CARHA a charge in the crease does, or one that injures. Under USA Hockey and CARHA, being thrown out also costs at least the next game. Under the IIHF a reckless charge can be a major and game misconduct with nobody hurt, and a hit into a goalie's back has no minor: plan on a major and game misconduct, which at a club in England or Wales, outside the Elite League, is also at least a one-game ban. On a power play, a misconduct outlasts your advantage. Book by book in What contact with their goaltender costs you.
• Leaning on the goalie while you screen. Screen without touching them. Under Hockey Canada, CARHA and USA Hockey any contact you start costs the goal, in the crease or out of it, and under the NHL, IIHF and PWHL a screen that stops the goalie moving in the crease can cost it too.
• Treating the red crease line as the safe side of the boundary. Keep both feet clear of the line, not merely out of the blue paint — every book that settles it counts the line as part of the crease. It is the cheapest thing you will ever do for a goal. Rink Map owns this.
• Standing in, or skating through, the crease under USA Hockey and expecting only a "no goal". Go around the paint. That book stops play for a draw outside your attacking zone when you are in the crease, your team has the puck in the zone and the goalie is in contact with the crease — on a power play the whistle is the punishment. Its Casebook cuts both ways: a stick briefly through the paint will not cost you the zone, but it will still cost you the goal. Set out in Against their goalie.
• Pushing the goalie into the net "with" the puck in a scramble. Play the puck, not the goalie. The rebound carve-out covers only incidental contact while you both go for a loose puck; drive a goalie into the net after a stop and the goal is disallowed, and expect a penalty too — in CARHA up to an ejecting major, with at least a one-game suspension (32(d)). Only a defender fouling you into them saves the goal.
• Taking the lane away from a goalie skating back to their crease. Get out of the lane. Under USA Hockey's Casebook, blocking a goalie on their way back costs the goal and an interference penalty; the NHL and IIHF can penalise it when it is deliberate. A major ends your game under Hockey Canada, CARHA and USA Hockey, and under CARHA and USA Hockey it costs at least the next game too (32(d); 404(b)). ⚠️ Whether merely standing in the space is enough is not settled in the books — a reason to be out of the lane, not a permission to stand in it. Each book's route is in Against their goalie.

Mistakes that get you hurt

• Reading "back turned" or "facing the boards" as a reason to arrive harder. ⚠️ Go for the puck, not through the back — if you cannot reach the puck without going through the player, you were never winning it. While it stays off the head, a hit from behind ejects you in every book but USA Hockey, and ⚠️ into the boards or net on a player who cannot protect themselves, Hockey Canada and CARHA must give a match. Under USA Hockey a forceful one on a player along the boards, a head-first one or a reckless one is a mandatory ejection — and plan on a match and a likely multi-game suspension if it is reckless. The full ladder, including a hit that reaches the head, is in Killing the entry.
• Hearing "body on the wall" or "head up" as the whole of the wall posture. Never turn your back to anyone coming at you, and never duck — skates parallel to the boards, forearm and hip to the wall, head up and chin off your chest, never the point of your shoulder. Holding the line and walking down the half-wall both put you on the wall with somebody closing, and being a man up, or in a non-checking league, changes nothing: a wall does not need an opponent to hurt you. Body Contact and Battles owns the full rule.

Check yourself

These seven questions are optional — skip to the Key Takeaways if you would rather. If you try them, make a real attempt before you go on, because producing an answer and getting it wrong is worth more than recognising a right one — but only when you then check it, since the checking does the work. The section named with each question, and the Key Takeaways, are where you get it.

1. You are killing a penalty and you fire the puck the length of the ice. Is that icing? Give the answer, then both carve-outs, and for the first of the two say at what moment it bites — then say how many of the two reach you if you play in Britain, and why. The carve-outs are not the whole of it: name the further limit that reaches a British kill as surely as a North American one, say what it tells you to do with two seconds left on the penalty, and say why a 5-on-3 answers differently from a single minor when the first penalty runs out. Now answer the same question with the extra man instead of a man short. (§You may ice the puck freely — where your rule set allows it, §Common Mistakes)

2. Four of you cannot cover five of them. So what is a penalty kill actually a decision about — and what is the failure mode that turns every kill into a goal? (§The one idea behind every penalty kill)

3. Your kill is in a box and the power play is set up in a 1-3-1. Which of their five is unmarked, and why is that by design rather than by mistake? Name the shape that answers it, and say what that answer gives away instead. (§Box — the shape everyone learns first, §Diamond — a single apex)

4. You are on the half-wall, the unit is set, and the kill is square and organised. Do you shoot? There is more than one defensible answer here — give both, say what suits each, and say who decides. (§Why puck movement, not shooting, creates it)

5. Where do most amateur power plays actually die, and what should you do instead of forcing it? Say what a failed attempt costs you out of two minutes. (§Power play zone entries)

6. You are killing, standing in front of your own goalie, and a point shot is coming. Should you block it? Say what decides that, and what half-blocking a shot from where you are standing does to your goalie. (§Shot blocking)

7. You are the lone point player on a 1-3-1 power play and a clear beats you cleanly at the line. What do you do — and why is "keep it in at all costs" the wrong instruction for you specifically? (§The defenceman's job holding the line)

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Key Takeaways

1. Create two-on-ones by passing, and cash them in near the net. A kill can cover one option, not three in two seconds. Stand where you could shoot or pass this instant — a player who needs two touches is ignored. Preferring the pass to the shot is a coaching choice; shot-volume power plays work too.
2. When the entry is denied, turn back and come again. Most power plays die at the blue line. When the kill clears it, one player chases and the other four re-form — the unit that wins that scramble gets three or four setups instead of one.
3. On the kill, hold your own job and concede only what your shape concedes. A box gives up the middle, a diamond the outside and the backdoor, a wedge+1 the perimeter. The goal comes when a killer leaves their job to cover what was conceded. Keep your blade flat in the seam.
4. Kill the penalty before it reaches your zone. Stand up at the line as a pair and put your stick in the receiver's lane. Go for the puck, not the man: contact before it arrives is interference, and where checking is barred, or in IIHF or PWHL women's hockey, so is going into the receiver when it arrives.
5. Know your team's shape and your job in it before the puck drops. Every formation here is a coaching choice, not a law, and so are the pressure setting and how much you block. Most breakdowns are two players assuming different systems, so ask your coach which one you run.
6. Win the draw with your stick and keep your wingers off the hash marks. A creeping winger gets your centre thrown out; a second violation is a penalty in four books of the six, and contact at the dot can be penalised on the first — mandatorily in three. A man short, either is a 5-on-3.
7. Block shots from the lane, before the shot, on your feet. Never block from where you screen your own goalie. Block with your body, head out of the lane, stick flat beside you, and never turn your back or lift a leg. How much to block is your coach's call.
8. On the kill, pressure the puck, never the back. If the carrier is between you and the puck, you were never winning it. ⚠️ A hit from behind ejects you in most books; under USA Hockey, any forceful one along the boards, or any head-first or reckless one. If reckless there, plan on a match and a likely multi-game suspension.
9. A man short, fire the long clear; a man up, never. Release it before the penalty ends. USA Hockey allows it only at Youth 15-Only and above, Girls 16U and above, High School and Adult, and the NHL and PWHL withdraw it when a major expires with your box empty. A deliberate shoot-out is a minor anywhere, in every book.
10. Screen with your skates clear of the crease and its red line; never touch the goalie or block their road home. ⚠️ A charge on the goalie ejects you: under Hockey Canada anywhere, as does interference that injures them; under CARHA in the crease or on injury; under USA Hockey if reckless (plan on a match and a likely multi-game suspension). USA Hockey and CARHA add at least the next game. Every other book can eject.

Sources — retrieved 27 July 2026. The Rule 67.2, 79.2, 614(c), 618, 4.11 and 10.2 wording quoted for the smothering section was read against the rulebook text on 29 August 2026.

Rules: National Hockey League Official Rules 2025-2026 (PDF) — Rule 1.7 (Goal Crease, read 10 September 2026 for whether the marked crease line is part of the crease, of which it says nothing: it defines the crease area only as "all the space outlined by the crease lines", and the NHL's Rule 1.7 is the one definition of the four with no sentence either way — its Table 14, Situation 5E does speak to the line, and it runs the other way; the PWHL's own 1.7 carries the same wording and is silent too, read 15 October 2026), Rule 1.8 (Goalkeeper's Restricted Area, rink geometry), Rule 15 (Calling of Penalties / signalled delayed penalty), Rule 16 (Minor Penalties / short-handed definition, including 16.2's "This rule does not apply when a goal is scored on a penalty shot"), Rule 20.2 ("the penalized player serving the major penalty does not leave the penalty bench when the opposing team scores"), Rule 20.3, read 14 September 2026 for what the empty penalty bench in 81.6 actually requires and when — scoped to a player "removed from the game or is injured", allowing the substitute "at a stoppage of play prior to the expiration of the major penalty" rather than immediately, and supplying the reason the icing exemption goes with it: "as they are no longer short-handed by reason of a penalty", Rule 24.6 ("No penalty shall expire when a goal is scored against a team on a penalty shot"), Rule 19 (Coincidental Penalties), including Rule 19.4 Last Five Minutes and Overtime, read 31 August 2026 — the same provision as IIHF 19.3 in materially the same words, but reaching "a major (or match) penalty" and requiring the replacement player in the box "prior to expiration of the penalty" for a major and "immediately" for a match, Rule 26 (Delayed Penalties / minimum three skaters), Rule 27.8 (Restricted Area / trapezoid penalty), Rule 42 Charging, read 1 September 2026 for the goalkeeper sentence in 42.1 — "A minor, major or a major and a game misconduct shall be imposed on a player who charges a goalkeeper while the goalkeeper is within his goal crease", ⚠️ which is not the IIHF's shorter "A penalty shall be imposed" wording — with 42.2 (minor at the Referee's discretion, "based on the degree of violence of the check"), 42.3 (major), 42.4 (match where the player "attempted to or deliberately injured his opponent by charging") and 42.5 (game misconduct where a major is imposed "for an infraction resulting in an injury to the face or head of an opponent"), Rule 56 Interference, read 22 September 2026 for the two limbs the net-front and returning-goalkeeper passages turn on — 56.1's Possession of the Puck definition, "The last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession", which is what puts a goalkeeper skating home outside "possession", and 56.1's lateral-movement limb, which does require contact; and 56.2(i), "On a player who interferes with or impedes the progress of an opponent who is not in possession of the puck", which does not, Rule 63.2 (Delaying the Game / puck out of play from the defending zone and its three exceptions; 63.2(v) on a skater who deliberately falls on or gathers the puck into their body, and its NOTE protecting the shot-blocker; 63.2(vii) on a goalkeeper freezing the puck in their crease; and 63.2(vi) on a goalkeeper who races out and jumps on the puck, read 30 August 2026 with its NOTE, which legalises the neighbouring act — "If a goalkeeper comes out of his crease to 'cut down the angle' on a shot and after making the save covers the puck, this shall be legal"), Rule 63.6 (the puck-location test — "If the puck is in the crease, penalty shot"), Rule 67.2 (Handling Puck — the permission that makes the smother avoidable: "A player shall be permitted to catch the puck out of the air but must immediately place it or knock it down to the ice", with the NOTE to 67.2(ii) escalating a covered puck in the goal crease), Rule 67.4 (penalty shot where a defending skater covers the puck in the goal crease area), Rule 67.5 (awarded goal where the same act is committed with the goalkeeper replaced by an extra attacker) and Rule 79.2 (Hand Pass – Defending Zone: "Play will not be stopped for any hand pass by players in their own defending zone"), Rule 69 Interference on the Goalkeeper, read 2 September 2026 — 69.1 (the premise, the two grounds under "Goals should be disallowed only if", and the disallowing sentence keyed to an attacker who "enters the goal crease"), 69.3, 69.4 and 69.7 — with Reference Table 14 (Interference on the Goalkeeper Situations), read in full, not by phrase search, because the table interleaves its columns: Situations 5C and 5E, in the group headed "5. SCREENING SITUATIONS", both answered "Goal is allowed.", Rule 76.2 (Face-off Locations / power-play dot choice / scrum encroachment), Rule 76.6 and 76.7 (Face-off encroachment, centre ejection, second-violation bench minor), Rule 81.1–81.6 (Icing / attacking team's dot choice / line-change ban / short-handed exemption, including the major-penalty carve-out in 81.6), Rule 81.5 read 15 September 2026 for the draw carve-out the section above adds — "If the puck shall go beyond the goal line in the opposite half of the ice directly from either of the players while facing-off, it shall not be considered a violation of this rule", which sits in 81.5 and not in 81.6 and so is not conditional on being short-handed, Rule 82.1 (Line Changes / home last change and the icing exception), Rule 83.1 (Off-side), Rule 84 (Overtime / 3-on-3, overtime penalties, and the pulled goalie who may not change on the fly), Rule 87.1 (Time-outs — "No time-out shall be granted to the defensive team following an icing…") and Rule 43 Checking from Behind, read 22 September 2026 for the Common Mistakes facts block — 43.2 "There is no provision for a minor penalty for checking from behind", with the major at 43.3 and, unlike the IIHF, the mandatory ejection in a separate clause, 43.5: "A game misconduct penalty must be assessed anytime a major penalty is applied for checking from behind" · IIHF Official Rule Book 2025/26 (PDF) — the base rule set for every level of hockey in Britain. Read directly for this document: Rule 1.7 Goal Crease / On-Ice Officials' Crease, read 10 September 2026 — "In front of each goal frame, one goal crease shall be marked by a red line. The marked line belongs to the Goal Crease.", with its separate Goal Crease Area/ Space paragraph, "The Goal Crease Area includes all of the space outlined by the crease lines"; the two sentences read identically in the 2025/26 v1.1 and 2026/27 editions, Rule 16.2 and Rule 26.1 (short-handed definition, least-time termination, three-skater floor and delayed clock — all matching the NHL), Rule 19.1, 19.3 and 19.4 (coincidental penalties; note the "cancel majors then minors" rule is 19.4 in the IIHF book where the NHL numbers it 19.5, and that 19.3 "Last Five Minutes and Overtime" — read 31 August 2026 in both the 2025/26 and 2026/27 editions and word for word the same in each — is the IIHF number for what the NHL writes at 19.4; Appendix IV, Table 15, example 19, renumbered Table 13 in the 2026/27 edition with the same example number and wording, is the book's own worked answer on a minor against a major), Rule 20.2 (the major served in full through a goal against — the NHL's sentence but for "penalty box" where the NHL writes "penalty bench") and Rule 20.3 (substitute in the box on a major), Rule 42 Charging, read 1 September 2026 — 42.1's "A penalty shall be imposed on a Player who charges a goalkeeper while the goalkeeper is within their goal crease" with 42.2 (minor), 42.3 (major) and 42.4 (major plus game misconduct for reckless endangerment); the IIHF book writes no privileged area, and the word appears nowhere in it, Rule 56, read 22 September 2026 — its 56.1 Possession of the Puck definition carries the NHL's sentence with "Player" capitalised and "possession" in quotation marks, and its 56.2(I) the NHL's 56.2(i) with the same two changes; ⚠️ the IIHF numbers interference at Rule 56 exactly as the NHL does — its own Rule 8.3 is BLOOD, not interference, Rule 63.2 — 63.2(III), which carries the NHL's defending-zone puck-out-of-play minor in the same terms and not word for word: its determining-factor sentence and its two Note exceptions match, but its carve-out reads "except where there is no protective glass" where the NHL's reads "no glass", and its bench clause "⁠[w]hen the puck is shot over the protective glass surrounding the Players' bench, the penalty will be assessed" where the NHL's reads "behind" — "surrounding" being the wider word of the two — together with 63.2(V) on a skater falling on or gathering the puck into the body, 63.2(VII) on a goalkeeper freezing it in their own crease, and 63.2(VI) on a goalkeeper who "'races out' of their goal crease… and instead of playing the puck jumps on the puck" — read 30 August 2026 for its NOTE, which legalises the adjacent act: "If a goalkeeper comes out of their goal crease to 'cut down the angle' on a shot and after making the save covers the puck, this shall be legal." The NHL's own 63.2(vi) NOTE is the same sentence for "his crease", Rule 63.6 (the puck-location test in words materially identical to the NHL's, writing "goal crease" throughout, spelling out "a 'Penalty Shot' shall be awarded" where the NHL clips it, and carrying "Penalty Shot" as a defined term) Rule 67.2 (the catch-and-knock-down permission in the NHL's own words) and Rule 67.5 (awarded goal on an empty net; IIHF 67.4 carries no text of its own and refers back to 63.6), Rule 69.1/69.3/69.4/69.7 with Appendix IV, Table 16 (Interference on the Goalkeeper situations — Situations 5C and 5E, both answered "Goal is allowed", read 2 September 2026 in the 2025/26 v1.1 book and again in the 2026/27 edition, where the same table is renumbered Table 14 and the rows are identical) (goaltender interference, same two grounds, with video review and Coach's Challenge available under the IIHF book; 69.4's returning-goalkeeper clause is the protection, and it reaches only a goalkeeper who has already played the puck outside the crease and is "then prevented from returning to their goal crease area due to the deliberate actions of an attacking Player", where that Player "may be penalized" — unchanged across its 2025/26 v1.0 and v1.1 books and its 2026/27 book, and matched at the NHL's own 69.4 in the NHL's wording), Rule 76.2 (power-play choice of dot, matching the NHL), Rule 76.6 (in this edition, encroachment is a warning to the offending team rather than the NHL's ejection of the centre — a divergence the 2026/27 edition has since closed, see below) and 76.7 (second violation on the same draw is a bench minor, matching the NHL), Rule 81.5, read 15 September 2026 in the 2025/26 v1.1 and 2026/27 texts and word for word the same in both — "If the puck shall go beyond the goal line in the opposite half of the ice directly from either of the Players while facing-off, it shall not be considered a violation of this rule", the NHL's sentence with its capitalised Player, and, being in 81.5 rather than 81.6, not a short-handed provision, Rule 81.6 (short-handed icing exemption in the NHL's words, and without the NHL's major-penalty/empty-penalty-bench carve-out, which has no IIHF counterpart anywhere in Rule 81), the Numerical Strength entry in Appendix II, Definition, Terminology & Terms — read 14 September 2026 and word for word the same in the 2025/26 v1.1 and 2026/27 editions: "The numerical strength is affected when one team has a lower number of Players on the ice than five skaters and one goalkeeper due to one or more penalties that they are serving", with its companion Short-handed entry turning on the same "one or more penalties that they are serving" — the plainest statement in any of the five books that the count is of penalties, and that the goalkeeper sits inside the baseline, Rules 81.2, 81.4, 82.1 and 87.1 (the icing consequences imposed in the same words as the NHL — checked, not assumed — with one divergence: IIHF 81.4's list of permitted substitutions runs to four where the NHL's runs to three, the IIHF alone allowing a team to replace "a Player with a broken skate". ⚠️ That fourth exception is written in only one of the two IIHF rules that govern an icing. The same book's 82.1 bars substitutions for a team "in violation of ➔ Rule 63.8 – Delaying the Game or ➔ Rule 81 – Icing" and then lists only the NHL's three, and neither rule says which governs. Read against the 2025/26 v1.1 and 2026/27 texts on 29 August 2026; both print both lists, and the NHL's own 81.4 and 82.1 agree with each other on three), Rule 83.1 (off-side), Rules 84.1–84.5 (overtime: 3-on-3 throughout, five minutes preliminary and ten minutes playoff/bronze, penalty handling matching NHL 84.3, and no on-the-fly restriction on a returning pulled goalie in 84.2), and Rule 43.2, read 22 September 2026 in both the 2025/26 v1.1 and 2026/27 texts, identical in each: "This infraction is considered serious and dangerous, therefore there is no option to award a minor penalty for “Checking from Behind”." ⚠️ The IIHF writes the game misconduct into 43.3 itself — "a major penalty and an automatic game misconduct penalty" — where the NHL splits it out into 43.5 · IIHF Situation Handbook 2025/26 (Version 1.1, August 2025), read for the bench limb of the puck-out-of-play minor and for the coincidental-minors question, and nothing else — Situation 84.10, which is the IIHF's own worked answer on two coincidental roughing minors ("Since the penalties are coincidental, the penalties are not served on the clock and the teams are playing 5 – 5", citing Rules 19.1 and 84.3), read 30 August 2026 and word for word the same in the 2026/27 Handbook; Situation 63.24, which still assesses the minor where a clear goes over the glass and lands in the Players' Bench ("the determining factor when deciding whether a delay of game penalty is to be assessed, 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)"), Situation 63.28, the glove scoop over the glass behind the players' bench, "considered shooting or batting the puck with the hand resulting in the puck leaving the playing surface", and Situation 63.3, no penalty 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"; all three read in the same words in the IIHF Situation Handbook 2026/27. Its Foreword ranks it below the Rulebook — "in case of any contradictions, the valid IIHF Rulebook is always the basis" · IHUK In-House Rules 2025-26, Revision 1 — the England Ice Hockey / SIHA / BUIHA amendments on top of the IIHF book: Section 6 (fighting a five-minute major in NIHL, SNL and BUIHA Varsity, with an automatic game misconduct in NIHL, NIHL1 and NIHL2 for a fighting major in the last five minutes of regulation or in overtime), Rule 37 and Rule 38 with Rule 69.1 (no on-ice video review and no Coach's Challenge in EIH or SIHA competition), and Rule 84 with Appendix 1 (overtime played only in NIHL and in SNL where its regulations provide, and the NIHL/SNL formats). That edition does not amend Rule 81, Rule 76, Rule 26 or Rule 42, so the icing and delayed-penalty positions above are the unamended IIHF ones · IHUK In-House Rules 2026-27, Revision 1 (published 25 July 2026) — the current British document, and it does amend Rule 76. Read for its Introduction and cover page, for the Section 10 – Game Flow face-off amendment quoted above, and for the carry-forward of Section 6 (fighting, with the same "Applicable Leagues: NIHL (all leagues), SNL, and BUIHA Varsity" heading and the same NIHL last-five-minutes provision), Rules 37 and 38 with 69.1, and Rule 84 with Appendix 1 — all of which are unchanged in substance from the 2025-26 edition. It still amends neither Rule 81, Rule 26 nor Rule 42, so the icing, delayed-penalty and charging positions above stand. Both editions were read in full for a charging amendment: their only Physical Fouls provision is the fighting one above, and the Introduction's "Unless otherwise stated, all rules will be enforced in line with the IIHF Rule Book" is what makes the unamended IIHF rule the operative British one. No IHUK Rule Bulletin has been obtained. ⚠️ It does not settle which IIHF edition British hockey sits on: its cover says "the Current IIHF Rule Book" while its Introduction adopts "the latest IIHF Official Rule Book (Version 1.1, published July 2025)", which is the 2025/26 book. The face-off answer above does not depend on that, because IHUK wrote the replacement into its own text. See UK and England Rules · USA Hockey Official Playing Rules 2025-29 (PDF) — Rule 624(b)(1), which prefixes the short-handed icing nullification with "(For all Youth 15-Only and above, Girls 16U and above, High School and Adult classifications only)" and, in its second sentence, read 14 September 2026, writes both halves of the timing into one: "The 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(b) was then read end to end on 15 September 2026, all five limbs, and the classification prefix sits on (b)(1) alone — (b)(3), the draw carve-out, carries none of it: "The puck travels the length of the ice as a result of either player participating in a face-off", so a Youth team below 15-Only that does not have the short-handed nullification still has this one. ⚠️ That limb is also the one book of the five that does not print the limiting word directly — the whole of Rule 624 was read the same day and the word appears nowhere in it, where the NHL, the IIHF, Hockey Canada and CARHA all write it, which is why the body names the split rather than claiming a shared word. USA Hockey's own Official Rules and Casebook 2025-29, at Rule 624 Situation 15, read 15 September 2026, supplies the reading the rule text leaves open: icing is nullified only where "the puck must receive its impetus from the initial stick contact on the face-off", so a centre who touches the puck on the draw, gains possession an instant later and shoots the length of the ice is iced; its Rule 624 Situation 8, read 14 October 2026, puts the post-icing draw "at the end face-off spot on the side of the ice from which the puck was shot or passed." ⚠️ What none of the five settles in terms is a puck that clips a stick after leaving the draw; the body tells the reader to treat any other touch as ending the carve-out, which is the strict reading rather than a decided point. Separately, 624(b)(1) is a head count, "short-handed (below the on-ice numerical strength of their opponent) when the puck is shot", Rule 613(d) and (e) (face-off violations, read 15 September 2026 — (d)'s second-violation minor "assessed to the player committing the second violation", and (e)'s mandatory interference minor, "shall be assessed to any player facing-off who makes any physical contact with their opponent's body", where NHL and IIHF 76.7 leave it to the Referee's discretion), Rule 614(a) and (b) (the minor for falling on the puck, which USA Hockey alone conditions on the act "deeming the puck unplayable and causing a stoppage of play", and the "penalty shot/optional minor penalty" where it happens in the goal crease, with the awarded goal conditioned on the act having "prevented an obvious and imminent goal"), Rule 406(a) (the election between shot and minor belongs to the non-offending team, and its strength protection — "If the penalty shot is selected, the offending team shall not be reduced in on-ice strength as a result of the infraction" — attaches to the shot, so electing the minor does reduce the offending team's strength), Rule 614(c) (the four listed conditions on which a goalkeeper's freeze is a minor, the last of them the "goalkeeper's privileged area"), Rule 404 Misconduct Penalties, read 1 September 2026 — 404(a), "A 'MISCONDUCT' penalty involves the removal of a player, other than a goalkeeper, from the game for a period of 10 minutes, or the designated misconduct penalty time", and the Note above it, which is why that second limb exists: "(Except for Adults) Affiliates or governing bodies are authorized to reduce the length of misconduct penalties for games under their jurisdiction according to the following period lengths: • 12 minutes or less – 6:00 misconduct penalty • More than 12 but less than 17 minutes – 8:00 misconduct penalty • 17-20 minutes – 10:00 misconduct penalty". ⚠️ The exemption is for adults, so it is the youth reader whose misconduct may be six or eight minutes rather than ten, and only where an affiliate has exercised the authorisation. The other three books were checked on 1 September 2026 and none carries a comparable reduction — NHL Rule 22.1 and IIHF Rule 22.1 both read "ruled off the ice for a period of ten (10) minutes each", Hockey Canada Rule 4.7(a) "removed from the ice for a period of 10 minutes of actual playing time", and a keyword search of each of the three finds no period-length provision anywhere in it, Rule 607 Charging, read in full 1 September 2026, and re-read in full 26 September 2026, for the same area's other job — its Note, defining charging as "more than two strides or travels an excessive distance to accelerate through a body check for the purpose of punishing the opponent"; Rule 607(a), a minor plus a misconduct or a major plus a game misconduct "for charging an opponent"; Rule 607(b), "A major penalty plus game misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any player who recklessly endangers an opponent as a result of charging", the limb that makes that book's ejection mandatory and carries no crease or injury condition; Rule 607(c), "A minor plus a misconduct or a major plus a game misconduct penalty shall be assessed to a player who body checks or charges a goalkeeper while the goalkeeper is within the goal crease or privileged area"; Rule 607(d), "A goalkeeper is NOT 'fair game' because they are outside the privileged area", with its Note 1 sending "any accidental or unavoidable contact" to the Interference rule and "⁠[a]ny deliberate body contact or check" to charging, and its Note 2 defining the privileged area; and Rule 607(e), "A match penalty for reckless endangerment may also be assessed for charging." Rule 602(a), read 17 October 2026, "A match penalty shall be assessed to any player or team official who recklessly endangers or attempts to injure any opposing player or team official." Rule 404(b), read 1 October 2026 for what a game misconduct costs after the game — "shall also be suspended for the team’s next game", with a minimum two-game suspension where it follows a second major under 403(b). The same question was put to CARHA Rule 32(d) (a game misconduct assessed for a major "shall automatically incur a one (1) game suspension") and Hockey Canada Rule 4.8(c) (a game misconduct in the last ten minutes of regular playing time, in overtime or after the game brings a suspension of "a minimum of the next regular league/play-off game or seven days"), read the same day. That every book reports a game misconduct to a body that can suspend further was read on 20 October 2026 in all six: NHL and PWHL 23.2 (to the Commissioner and to the Hockey Operations Officer), IIHF 23.2 ("the Proper Authorities"), USA Hockey 404(b)'s Note ("the incident shall be reported to the proper authorities"), Hockey Canada 4.8(a) ("reported to the appropriate Member or league for further action") and CARHA 32(b) ("reported to the Chairman for further action"). Rule 405(c), Rule 410(c) and the Standardized Discipline Policy – Match Penalties printed in the book’s own Preface, read 25 September 2026 for what a match penalty costs after the game — 405(c)’s suspension "from participating in all USA Hockey games and practices until their case has been dealt with by the proper authorities", 410(c)’s "the proper disciplinary authority (as defined in the Glossary) shall be required to conduct any disciplinary actions in accordance with the provisions of USA Hockey’s Standardized Discipline Policy", and the Policy’s Level 2 list, which names "Rule 607(e) Charging" among the match penalties carrying "a recommended range of a 4-8 game suspension", with the hearing body free to "reduce the suspension, maintain the suspension or increase the suspension imposed." The Policy points onward to Bylaw 10D and the USA Hockey Annual Guide; neither was obtained or read, so nothing here rests on them. ⚠️ No limb of Rule 607 carries a bare minor, Rule 618(a) and (b) (a hand closed on the puck and not immediately dropped is a stoppage and a last-play faceoff rather than a penalty outside the crease, and a hand pass "initiated and completed in their defending zone" lets play continue), and Rule 625(b), the bar on a goal with an attacking player in the goal crease — read for all three of its paragraphs: the bar and its two exceptions (the puck preceding the player into the crease, or the goalkeeper being out of the crease area — the second narrowed by the separate USA Hockey Casebook at Rule 625, Situation 9, which disallows the goal and assesses an interference penalty where the goalkeeper "is attempting to return to the goal crease" and is prevented from making a play), the neutral-zone face-off limb and its three provisos — that limb read with Rule 625, Situation 10, which answers "No" to whether the referee must stop play every time a stick or skate enters the crease, play "should not be stopped because a player momentarily places their stick and/or skates in the goal crease, unless they interfere with the goalkeeper in any manner", while its second half disallows a goal scored with an attacking player's stick or skates in the crease and the goalkeeper in it, the Referee having "no alternative but to disallow the goal" — and the (Note) that closes it, read 10 September 2026 — "The goal crease area shall include all the space outlined by the semi-circular crease lines (including crease lines) and extending vertically to the level of the top of the goal frame", which is the sentence that puts the marked line inside the crease, and the separate USA Hockey Casebook at Rule 103, Situation 4 — "Is the two inch red line outlining the goal crease considered to be a part of the goal crease? Yes… The goal crease area includes the space bounded by the outside edges of the semi-circular crease lines" — and the push-in relief under which "play shall not be stopped and any legal goal scored shall be allowed" — read with Rule 625(a), whose preamble makes interference a minor, and 625(a)(8), the minor for "physical contact, using their stick or body, in a manner that interferes with the movement of the goalkeeper, unless otherwise specified in the rules", all quoted from the rulebook text; read in full for a screening or goaltender-vision provision, of which it has none; and, on the puck out of play, Rule 610(c), which reaches only a player or goalkeeper who "delays the game by deliberately shooting or batting the puck outside the playing area, including after a stoppage of play" and writes no defending-zone strict-liability limb of any kind, read with Rule 631(d), under which "⁠[i]f the puck is accidentally shot or deflected out of play, or onto the goal netting, a last play face-off will occur in the zone where the puck was shot or the deflection occurred"; and Rule 608 Checking from Behind, read 22 September 2026 for the Common Mistakes facts block — 608(a) "A minor plus a misconduct penalty, or a major plus a game misconduct penalty, shall be assessed for checking from behind", and 608(c), the match penalty where a player "recklessly endangers an opponent from behind with excessive force while the opponent is in a vulnerable or defenseless position" · USA Hockey Official Rules and Casebook 2025-29 (PDF) — Casebook, Rule 608, Situation 1, read 30 September 2026 for the checking-from-behind tiers: "The major plus a game misconduct penalty, or match penalty, must be called" "⁠[i]n every instance where a player forcefully checks an opponent who is standing along the boards (back toward the middle of the ice)", the minor plus misconduct being kept for a push on an opponent "not near the boards" and for "minimal body contact" making a "'pinch' against the boards"; Rule 614 Situations 1 to 4, for the puck-location test ("The location of the puck at the instant it is covered or held is the determining factor") and for the empty-net pair: no penalty where the puck is simply shot under a player lying in the crease, penalty shot or awarded goal where they act to cover it; and Rule 618, Situation 1, which carries the express permission to catch the puck that USA Hockey's playing rules do not print — "⁠[t]he motion of catching, then dropping the puck, must be virtually one continuous motion", and "⁠[p]rovided the player catches the puck and drops it to their stick in one continuous motion, play should be allowed to continue" — a casebook interpretation, not rule text; and Rule 607, Situations 4 and 6, read 1 September 2026 — Situation 4's three rungs for charging a goalkeeper in the crease or privileged area ("no penalty should be assessed" only "⁠[i]n the case where a defending player has forced the attacking player into their own goalkeeper" and they have "clearly made every attempt to avoid the contact with the goalkeeper"; "a minor plus misconduct penalty is deemed appropriate" where the player "makes an honest attempt to avoid the goalkeeper once it is realized contact is unavoidable"; and "the major plus game misconduct, or match penalty option" where they make no attempt and accelerate through, extend the arms or drop the shoulder), and Situation 6 — "Does the goalkeeper's Privileged Area include the area behind the goal line? Yes… The goalkeeper's Privileged Area extends to the closer end boards." · Hockey Canada Playing Rules 2026-2028 (PDF) — the Glossary entry GOAL CREASE, read 10 September 2026: "The half-circle of space designed for the protection of the goaltender. The lines of the crease are considered part of the crease." — Hockey Canada's Rule 1.5(c) itself says only "the space outlined by the crease lines", so it is the Glossary and not the rule that answers it; Rule 6.7 Icing the Puck, read 14 September 2026 for three of the limbs the icing section above turns on and re-read end to end on 15 September 2026, (a) to (e), which carries no age restriction on the exemption and no major-penalty limb anywhere in it — 6.7(b), "Icing will not be called and play will continue if the team shooting the puck is below the numerical strength of the opposing team at the instant the puck is shot"; 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" ⚠️ which read alone states a flat expiry rule and is the sentence most likely to be quoted for one; and the two Interpretations that scope it — Interpretation 2 to 6.7(b), "The determining factor is based on the numerical strength at the instant the puck is shot", and Interpretation 3 to 6.7(b), under which the moment the penalty time runs out the player "is considered to have completed their penalty and is on the ice, for the purpose of equal numbers (or not)"; 6.7(c)(iv), one of the circumstances in which "⁠[i]cing will not be called" — "⁠[i]f the action that causes the icing is directly from a player taking the face-off" — which sits outside 6.7(b) and so is not conditional on being short-handed; Rule 4.11 Penalty Shots, whose preamble makes a penalty shot "a non-time penalty, which is awarded to the non-offending team, in lieu of a Minor Penalty"; Rule 10.2 Handling or Falling on the Puck: its preamble ("A player will be permitted to stop, knock down, or push the puck with their hand"), 10.2(a)(i) (a hand pass stops play only where "a teammate in the neutral or attacking zone gains control of the puck"), 10.2(a)(iii) (no minor for a hand closed "to catch or stop the puck" and immediately dropped "without gaining or attempting to gain an advantage"), 10.2(a)(iv) (a minor for handling the puck rather than delay of game, for deliberately falling on or gathering the puck into the body "while standing or laying on the ice"), (v) (penalty shot "when the infraction occurs inside the offending team's goal crease") and (vi) (awarded goal where the goaltender has been legally substituted for an extra skater), with Interpretation 5 to 10.2(a)(v), which decides a body case on the puck's location and rules "no penalty shot may be awarded" where the puck was scooped out of the crease first, and the goaltender limb of Rule 10.2, which reaches a freeze only "while outside their crease" — the opposite scoping from NHL 63.2(vii) and IIHF 63.2(VII); Interpretation 3 to Rule 10.1(a), read in full 30 August 2026 for all five clauses, since clause ii reads as the permission qualifying clauses iii and v — a reading of the text, not a Hockey Canada ruling, because the book publishes no sentence saying which governs: "The goaltender may come out of their crease to cut down the angle and catch the shot or, after stopping the shot, cover the puck" — set against clause v, "When a goaltender leaves their 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" ⚠️ the two are not reconciled in the book and neither clause is subordinated to the other; clause iv is the one naming the offence, a goaltender who comes out "to beat an attacking player to the puck and simply jumps on the puck"; and Rule 8.5 Interference with the Goaltender, in Section 8 (Restraining Fouls), read 1 September 2026 for its penalty limbs — 8.5(b), "A Major penalty and Game Misconduct penalty will be assessed to any player who charges the goaltender", and 8.5(d), "No Misconduct penalty may be assessed for interference with the goaltender" — and for its crease bar and the carve-out that follows it allowing a teammate's goal from outside the crease where the crease player stays passive and clear of the goaltender's view and movements, and Interpretation 3 to Rule 8.5(a) for the test that replaces it; its Protection of the Goaltender paragraph — "A Goaltender is not 'fair game' just because they are outside their goal crease. A penalty under this rule will be called where an opposing player makes unnecessary contact with the goaltender anywhere on the ice" — and the whole rule read for a returning-goalkeeper clause of the NHL's and IIHF's kind, of which the book has none; its only two references to a goaltender's view both reach a player in the crease; and Rule 10.1 Delay of Game, read in full for a defending-zone puck-out-of-play limb, of which it has none — 10.1(ii) reaches only "⁠[a] player who deliberately shoots, bats, or throws the puck outside the playing surface", with no zone limit, and the direct limb that writes no deliberateness word, 10.1(v), names "⁠[a] goaltender who shoots or bats the puck directly out of the playing surface, with their stick"; Interpretation 5 to Rule 10.1(a), read 29 September 2026, exempting a goaltender's clear "where there is no glass" or where "the puck touches the glass or deflects off a player or official", and requiring that "both ends of the rink must be similar"; ⚠️ whether that limb needs intent is not settled in the book — 10.1(a), the penalty clause the rule hangs on, reads "A Minor penalty will be assessed to any player who, in the opinion of the Referee, is deliberately delaying the game", read 15 September 2026, and nothing subordinates either to the other; Rule 6.4(a), which attaches the non-penalty consequence — "⁠[i]n Junior and Senior divisions, where a player of the defending team, excluding the goaltender, unintentionally shoots, bats, throws, kicks, or otherwise directs the puck outside the playing surface, no penalty will be assessed, but the defending team may not make a line change" — with its Note 1 routing a deliberate one back to the minor, "as per Rule 10.1 (ii) – Delay of Game"; and the word "glass", which appears in Rule 10.1 only in Interpretation 5 to 10.1(a), a passage about the goaltender's limb; and Rule 6.2 Face-offs, read 15 September 2026 for the two limbs the face-off section above turns on — 6.2(c), "no player facing off will make any physical contact with their opponent's body by means of their own body or by their stick, except in the course of playing the puck, after the face-off has been completed. For a violation of this rule, the Referee will assess a Minor penalty or penalties to the player(s) whose action(s) caused the physical contact" — "will", not the NHL's and the IIHF's "may" — and 6.2(e), "A team committing a second violation of any of the provisions of (a), (b), (c), or (d) during the same face-off may be assessed a Minor penalty by the Referee under Rule 10.1 (viii) – Delay of Game", whose second paragraph removes that discretion where the offending player then contacts the Linesperson; and Rule 7.5 Checking from Behind, read 22 September 2026 — 7.5(a), "A Minor penalty and a Game Misconduct penalty will be assessed", and 7.5(c), the Match penalty for a player hit "from behind into the boards or goal frame, in such a way that the player is unable to protect or defend themselves", with 7.5(b), read 18 October 2026, the major and game misconduct the Referee "may assess" on the degree of violence and that "must be assessed" where a player is injured; Rules 7.6 and 7.7 Head Contact, read 18 October 2026 — 7.6(b)'s discretionary major on violence, mandatory on injury or "with a cross-check" above the shoulders, and 7.7(b)'s major for a high degree of violence, the same cross-check, or a head injury off "the glass, ice, or the boards", each with a match at (c); and Rule 8.3 Interference, read 22 September 2026 — 8.3(i), interference is where a player "⁠[i]nterferes with or impedes the progress of an opponent, who is not in possession of the puck", with 8.3(a) the minor. ⚠️ Hockey Canada writes no counterpart to NHL and IIHF 56.1's goalkeeper-possession exclusion. The book was searched for "last player to touch the puck", "other than the goaltender", "other than a goaltender" and "other than a goalkeeper", and the book's Glossary was read end to end: it has no Possession entry. What Hockey Canada writes instead is the "fair game" route — Interpretation 2 to Rule 8.3(a)(i), "the goaltender is not considered to be 'fair game' (see Rule 8.5 – Interference with the Goaltender) for physical contact" — which is keyed to contact, not to possession · CARHA Hockey Official Rule Book 2026 (PDF) — it governs CARHA-affiliated leagues only and is not a general rec-hockey standard. Read in the 2020 printing; every rule cited here is unchanged in the 2026 book. Read 14 September 2026 for the icing limb and 15 September 2026 for the face-off limb, and nothing else: Rule 65(d), "'Icing the puck' shall not be called if a team is below the numerical strength of the opposing team at the instant the puck is shot", and Note 2 to Rule 65(a), "A team shall not be considered below the numerical strength of its opponent by reason of a penalized player remaining in the penalty box after their penalty has expired." That Note is the only sentence anywhere in its Rule 65 that mentions a penalty at all — CARHA writes no counterpart to the NHL's "determined at the instant the penalty expires" paragraph, and none to the relief for a puck released before that instant, so it is not a book to cite for either. Rule 65 was read end to end on 15 September 2026 — it runs (a) to (h) and carries no age classification and no major-penalty limb anywhere in it, and its 65(e) is the draw carve-out: "Play shall continue and the 'icing the puck' infraction shall not be called if it is caused directly from either player taking the face-off" — outside 65(d), and so not conditional on being short-handed; it writes no substitution or time-out bar after an icing, and 55(a) Note 2, read 14 October 2026, lists "a SERIES OF ICINGS, thereby forcing a face-off" among the stalling on which referees "must be strict in enforcing the rules" — 55(a) being the bench minor for deliberate delay. Rule 57 Face-offs was then read for two limbs: 57(b), "no player facing-off shall make any physical contact with the opponent's body by means of their own body or by their stick, except in the course of playing the puck, after the faceoff has been completed… For violation of this rule, the Referee shall assess a Minor penalty on the player(s) whose action(s) caused the physical contact" — the only one of the five books that attaches no discretion clause to this at all — and 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", which is both discretionary and narrower than the others, reaching only its own section (a). Rule 52 was read in full on 26 September 2026 for the charge on a goalkeeper — 52(b), “A Major penalty and a Game Misconduct shall be assessed to any player who charges a goalkeeper while the goalkeeper is within the goal crease or who injures an opponent as a result of a charge”, which is mandatory rather than discretionary; and the Note to 52(a), “If more than two steps or strides are taken, it shall be considered a charge”, which sets the threshold by distance. The Note to Rule 52(b) was read 18 September 2026 for the goalkeeper's fair-game protection, "A goalkeeper is NOT 'fair game' just because they are outside the goal crease area. A penalty for interference or charging (Minor or Major) shall be called where an opposing player makes unnecessary contact with a goalkeeper" — CARHA carries it under Charging rather than under its goalkeeper-interference limb. Rules 55(a) and 75(b) were then read on 15 September 2026 for the puck out of play, because the section above had enumerated four books on it and CARHA writes a limb of its own: 55(a)'s second paragraph, "A Minor penalty shall be assessed to any goalkeeper who shoots or bats the puck out of the playing surface with their stick" — no zone limit and no deliberateness word, its Note 1 exempting only the no-glass case ("such as at the players' bench or penalty bench, or if the puck touches the glass or deflects off a player or official") — against 75(b), the ordinary skater limb, "A Minor penalty shall be assessed to any player who delays the game by deliberately shooting, batting, or throwing the puck outside the playing surface of the rink." Rules 30, 31 and 32 were read the same day for the empty-box note below. Rules 53, 58, 61 and 66 were read 22 September 2026 for the facts blocks that cite them: 53(a), a minor or major "plus a Game Misconduct at the discretion of the Referee, based on the degree of violence of the impact", so every tier carries the ejection, and 53(b), the Match penalty where a player is driven from behind "into the boards or goal net, in such a way that the player is unable to protect or defend themselves"; 58(b), the minor for a goalkeeper who falls on or gathers the puck "when the puck is behind the goal line and the goalkeeper’s body is entirely outside the boundaries of the goal crease area", and 61(b), the minor for a goalkeeper who "deliberately holds the puck and in the opinion of the Referee, is causing an unnecessary stoppage of play" — together the CARHA limb of the no-trapezoid-is-not-no-restriction point; and 66(a)(1) with its Note 1, "The last player to touch the puck, other than a goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession", which is what excludes a goalkeeper from possession under this book; and, read 22 October 2026, Rule 79(a) with its Note (the slap shot: a backswing "more than fifteen inches", a minor, a major if an injury results) and Rule 62(b), a Major for contact above an opponent's shoulders with a high stick, "accidentally or intentionally" and "whether or not injury results" · 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 only support held here for the KHL — a governing body's aside rather than a KHL rule · Motorpoint EIHL Casebook 26-27 (PDF) — refetched 22 September 2026, HTTP 200, 690,498 bytes. ⚠️ This is the book an Elite League reader is on, and it was cited six times in the face-off and Key Takeaways passages above without appearing here. Its Preamble is the routing clause quoted verbatim in the face-off section: "For all rules not mentioned in the EIHL Casebook, the official 2026 - 2027 IIHF Rulebook and IIHF Situation Handbook will serve as the official ruling." Its contents list and its rule sections were read 22 September 2026 for Rule 76: the list runs RULE 69 – INTERFERENCE ON THE GOALKEEPER straight to RULE 77 – GAME AND INTERMISSION TIMING, with no Rule 76 entry at all, which is the basis for the statement that the Casebook amends no face-off rule. It does amend Rule 69, and that amendment is set out in the net-front section above. Under RULE 69 – INTERFERENCE ON THE GOALKEEPER, sub-headed "EIHL Addition to the IIHF Rule Book" and dated August 2026, the Casebook sets "the 3 main criteria to consider/answer in making the appropriate decision": "1. Is the goaltender able to play his position? If he is contacted does he have time to recover? 2. Was the contact initiated by the defensive player or the cause of a player from the opposing team? 3. Was the contact made inside (or outside) of the crease? Contact in the blue paint area calls for disallowing a goal." Its third criterion agrees with the blue-paint warning above, so nothing stated there is wrong for an Elite League reader; what the Casebook adds is that in the Elite League those three questions, rather than IIHF 69.1's "should be disallowed only if" ceiling, are what the referee is directed to — read 22 September 2026. Its Rule 46.10 (Instigator) and the Rule 46 Fines and Suspensions paragraph (1) were read 1 October 2026 for the instigator penalty and the late-game suspension quoted under 5-on-3. The copy read is Version 1.1 (8 September 2026), which its own version table names as replacing Version 1.0; the League issues updates in season · England Ice Hockey Rules & Regulations 2024-2025 (PDF) — refetched 22 September 2026, HTTP 200, 1,139,400 bytes. Rule 22.3 is the source of the "not currently enforced" sentence in the penalty-kill retrieval passage and in the facts block that cites it: "Goalkeepers’ Restricted Area is not currently enforced to allow ice rinks the necessary time to make the changes to implement this rule." ⚠️ The In-House Rules entries above name England Ice Hockey as one of the bodies whose amendments they carry; that is a different document from this one, and until now this one was not listed. ⚠️ The document titles itself England Ice Hockey Rules & Regulations, while the association’s own website titles itself English Ice Hockey Association — the same body under two names

Power play systems: Explained: 1-3-1 Power Play Formation — The Coaches Site · Kraken coach Dave Hakstol's scheme and philosophies: the power play — Sound Of Hockey · Complete Idiot's Guide to Hockey Systems: Special Teams — Blue Seat Blogs · Hockey Power Play Strategies — Hockey IQ · The Role of the Bumper in the 1-3-1 Power Play — King Cobras Hockey · Blueprint for Winning Power Play Formations — Charlotte Hockey Lab · 1-3-1 Power Play – 5 Options — Ice Hockey Systems · Personnel prevalence, measured: Second Units and Zone Entries: Why teams should go all-in on the 4 forward power play — Matt Cane, Hockey Graphs, 7 March 2017 — retrieved 2 September 2026, HTTP 200; "4 forward units have accounted for roughly 56% of the 5-on-4 ice-time this season, up 4% from last year and more than 15% from 5 years ago", with 2015-16 named as "the first year in which 4 forward usage was greater than 3 forward usage". This is a league-wide share of ice time, not a count of teams, and it is 2016-17 data; the first-unit/second-unit split rests on Cane's separate 1.2× shift-start finding, which Cane qualifies as measuring shift starts "and not which units are on the ice". ⚠️ This document previously said no such count existed. It does, and this is it — the correction is recorded here rather than removed, because what it does not count is the thing the surrounding text still declines to claim: which shapes teams run. Nothing found in this search counts shape prevalence

Zone entries: Are Power Play Drop Pass Entries Effective? — Special Teams Project (2015-16 tracking, six NHL teams — small sample, cited with caveats) · Winning the Entry: How NHL Power Plays Gain the Zone — Ice Hockey Systems

Penalty kill systems: Kraken coach Dave Hakstol's scheme and philosophies: the penalty kill — Sound Of Hockey · Flyers Penalty Kill Analysis: PK Systems and Tactics — Broad Street Hockey · Hockey Penalty Kill Strategies — Blue Seat Blogs · Explained: Wedge Penalty Kill Formation — The Coaches Site · Defending the Neutral Zone on the Penalty Kill (1-3 Passive) — The Coaches Site · Penalty Kill Mastery — Ivy Hockey · On aggression, the one measurement found: Does aggressive play on the penalty kill pay off? — Matt Cane, Hockey Graphs, 23 March 2016 — retrieved 2 September 2026, HTTP 200. It defines "PK Aggressiveness" as shorthanded controlled and failed zone-entry attempts over entries against, from Corey Sznajder's tracking of the 2013-14 season only, and reports correlations with it of 0.57 for goals for per 60, 0.03 for goals against, 0.21 for goal differential, 0.83 for Corsi for and −0.33 for Corsi against, concluding that "playing more aggressively on the penalty kill will generally result in better outcomes for teams" while stating that "one season of data is obviously too little to draw sweeping conclusions from". ⚠️ It does not measure the thing this document declines to claim. It measures offensive opportunism while shorthanded, not defensive-zone puck pressure, and it reports nothing about shot location; Ryan Stimson makes exactly that objection in the comments on the page — "I don't think going for offensive chances when shorthanded is equal to aggressiveness ... What you've analyzed is more like opportunism". Cited above where the trade-off is discussed

Royal road: Kevin Woodley — "Unmasked: Analytics provide new evaluation tools", NHL.com, 18 December 2014 — Valiquette quoted directly on the 76% green-shot share and the 30% royal-road share; the original NHL.com URL now 404s, so the Internet Archive capture is linked · Taking a look at Steve Valiquette's "Royal Road" — Blue Seat Blogs (Justin Rutherford, 9 January 2015) · The Royal Road: Where to draw the line — Vital Hockey Skills — note that these two sources are reporting different quantities, not disagreeing about one. Blue Seat Blogs gives Valiquette's 76%/24% share of goals by shot type and contains no conversion rate and no 30% figure at all; the 30% is Valiquette's royal-road share of goals, from the Woodley NHL.com piece above. Vital Hockey Skills is the one giving conversion rates, and its 33%/3% pair is itself second-hand — it attributes them there to Chris Boyle of Sportsnet's Shot Quality Project. Shares of goals and conversion rates are not comparable, which is why the exact number stays flagged as unverified in the text.

3-on-3 overtime: Overtime approach no longer run-and-gun — NHL.com · OT rule changes, face-off clarity discussed at GM meetings — NHL.com · 3-on-3 overtime in NHL has evolved — ESPN

The route a player arrives at a goaltender by — read in the primary text on 24 September 2026: IIHF Official Rule Book 2025/26 (PDF), Rules 43.1, 43.2 and 43.3; 42.1’s superseding sentence; 48.1, 48.2 and 48.3; 23.1; Rule 5.1; 20.4, read on 25 September 2026 for what a major listed in those tables costs; Appendix IV Tables 6 and 7; and Appendix II’s Vulnerable Position entry, whose wording is “A skater…”. The phrase “match penalty” does not appear anywhere in that book. IIHF Situation Handbook 2025/26 (Version 1.1, August 2025) (PDF) prints “No situation” under Rule 43. NHL Official Rules 2025-2026 (PDF) Rules 43.1, 43.2, 43.3 and 43.5 were read for the same route; NHL 43.1 names no location, and 43.3 applies “anywhere on the playing surface”. ⚠️ Whether Rule 43 reaches a goaltender at all is a reading and is disclosed as one in the text; only the rules named here were read. USA Hockey Rule 608(a)-(c) and Hockey Canada Rules 7.5(a)-(e) were read on the same day for the same act — both write a minor for checking from behind and neither lets it stand alone — USA Hockey 608(a) attaches a misconduct, Hockey Canada 7.5(a) a Game Misconduct. ⚠️ Their match penalties are not conditioned alike: Hockey Canada 7.5(c) reaches one for a hit from behind “into the boards or goal frame”, and separately for deliberately attempting to injure, or deliberately injuring, an opponent by checking them from behind; USA Hockey 608(c) carries no location condition at all, assessing a match penalty “in all instances when a player recklessly endangers an opponent from behind with excessive force while the opponent is in a vulnerable or defenseless position.” CARHA Rules 53(a) and 53(b) were read for the same act on 22 September 2026. PWHL Rules 43.1-43.5 were read in the rulebook text on 25 September 2026 — that book writes Rule 43 in the feminine and its 43.4 is the NHL's sentence with the Referee(s) acting "at their discretion" — but whether its Rule 43 reaches a goaltender was not searched. PWHL Rule 65.2 (delay of game) was read in the rulebook text on 29 September 2026 for clauses (ii), (iii) and (v): its 65.2(iii) Note carries both the NHL's carve-outs, a puck shot into the players' bench and one that goes out of the playing area directly off a face-off.

The empty penalty box on a major — what a failure costs in each book, read in the primary text on 14 September 2026: NHL 19.2, 20.3, 81.6 and 68.2, whose closing sentence — "⁠[a]ny violation of this provision shall be treated as an illegal substitution under this rule calling for a bench minor penalty" — is the IIHF's word for word · IIHF 8.1, 19.2, 20.3 and 68.2, which differs from the NHL's only in requiring the substitute "immediately" where the NHL says "before the major penalty expires" · USA Hockey 204(c), 206(d), 403(c), 403(d), 405(a), with its Casebook at Rule 204, Situations 10 and 11 · Hockey Canada 4.1(b), 4.4(a), 4.5(a) and Note 1 to 4.5(c) · CARHA 30(a), which requires the substitute — "⁠[t]he penalized team shall place a substitute player on the Penalty Bench to serve five minutes actual playing time" — and names no moment and no sanction for failing it, and 30(b), which does carry a timing word, "immediate substitutions shall be made", for the coincidental case. ⚠️ That is a gap in Rule 30(a), not a silence in the book: CARHA writes "immediately" elsewhere — its 31(a) second paragraph on "a Minor and a Misconduct penalty or a Major and a Misconduct penalty at the same time", and its 32(a) on a third penalty in a game — and the two reach 30(a) differently. 31(a) does not: 30(a) attaches a Game Misconduct, which CARHA treats as a different thing from a Misconduct (32(b)). 32(a) reaches part of it, by its own Note 1 — "⁠[a]ny combination of minor, bench minor, or major penalties shall apply to the personal total" — so a major that is the player's third penalty must be seated immediately. What is unsettled is the general case, a major that is the player's first or second. Seat somebody anyway. Rules Primer carries the full comparison.

Women's professional, read in the rulebook text on 23 September 2026: PWHL Official Rule Book 2025-2026 (PDF) — Rules 83.2, 83.4 and 89.1 for the attacking team's choice of dot after an icing, the substitution ban and the time-out ban, Rule 83.6 for the shorthanded icing exemption and its empty-penalty-bench carve-out, read 15 October 2026, Rule 43.4 for the match penalty for checking from behind, and Rule 71 for goalkeeper interference and the net-front reference tables; Rule 57.2(i) and the Glossary entry Possession of the Puck were read on 26 September 2026 — the minor is imposed "⁠[o]n a player who interferes with or impedes the progress of an opponent who is not in possession of the puck", with 57.4 adding a discretionary major "based on the degree of violence" and 57.5 a game misconduct where that major is for an injury (both read on 30 September 2026), and the Glossary carries the same goalkeeper exclusion as the NHL's, "⁠[t]he last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession". ⚠️ The book renumbers from Rule 52 onward, so the NHL's 81.2, 81.4, 87.1 and 69 will not find them.

Further rules the body cites, each located in the rulebook text on 15 October 2026 and matched to the act it is cited for: NHL 15.1 (play continues to possession on a delayed penalty), 67.3 (minor penalty – goalkeeper), 78.5(ix) (goal disallowed when a goalkeeper is pushed into the net with the puck after a save) and 85.1 (puck out of bounds off a face-off); IIHF 2026/27 27.7 (goalkeeper restricted area), 67.3, 78.5(IX), 85.1 and 101.1 (illegal hit in women's hockey), with the instigator rule cited as 46.3 of the 2025/26 book and 46.10 of the 2026/27 one; PWHL 52.1 (body checking), 65.6 and 69.4 (penalty shot for a puck covered in the crease), 69.2 (the catch permission), 69.5 (awarded goal with the goalkeeper replaced), 71.4 (contact outside the goal crease), 78.7 (face-off violations), 83.5 (no icing) and 87.1 (puck out of bounds); USA Hockey 636(f) (one 60-second time-out a game); Hockey Canada 5.4(b) (the goal judge's designated area); CARHA 36(b) (awarded goals); and the IHUK In-House Rules, Rule 101 in both the 2025-26 and 2026-27 editions (any major in women's hockey also brings a game misconduct and ejection).

A deliberate attempt to injure, read 17 October 2026 in the rulebooks linked above: NHL Rule 21.1 and PWHL Rule 21.1 — "A match penalty shall be imposed on any player who deliberately attempts to injure or who deliberately injures an opponent in any manner" — and CARHA Rule 48(a), a Match penalty for any player who "deliberately injures or attempts to injure an opponent" in any manner.

James Bloom, "Special Teams", Learning to Play the Game. https://learn-ice-hockey.com/systems/special_teams/ — licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

<a href="https://learn-ice-hockey.com/systems/special_teams/">Special Teams</a> by <a href="https://github.com/jamesdbloom">James Bloom</a>, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC 4.0</a>.

@misc{systems-special-teams,
  author  = {James Bloom},
  title   = {Special Teams},
  howpublished = {Learning to Play the Game},
  url     = {https://learn-ice-hockey.com/systems/special_teams/},
  note    = {Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0}
}