Hockey 101 with HftL: Penalties

Since we started out last week with something a little more in depth like face-offs (which was nicely done by Teri, BTW!!) and because this week we're "on our own," we thought we'd cover some basics.

The week's that HftL doesn't have a post from Teri, we're going to be covering penalties which will include a type of penalty, a call along with the signal (one of each a week).

First, let's just briefly go over types of penalties:

• minor
• major
• goaltender's
• coincidental minor / major
• misconduct / game misconduct
• match

This week, we'll start with a minor penalty and the call and signal for boarding.

MINOR PENALTIES are those that players get two minutes in the penalty box for and forces that player's team to be short one player on the ice (short-handed). If the other team scores a goal within that two minutes, the player is automatically released from the penalty box and that player's team is back to "even strength" (the same number of players on the ice as the opposing team). Some minor penalties include, but are not limited to, boarding; charging; clipping; cross-checking; delay of game; elbowing; high-sticking; holding; roughing; slashing; and tripping.

BOARDING (MINOR PENALTY)
This is when a player shoves (checks) an opponent into the boards in a violent manner. The ref's signal for this is pictured to the left (pounds the closed fist of the non-whistle hand into the open palm of the other hand).