Important
Over and Back – Ball contact behind the center line
| Correct Call: | White team makes contact on their defensive side. Red ball. | |
| For this not to be a penalty: | Contact needed to happen when the ball is on white’s offensive side of the mid line. | |
| Game Level: | This should be called at every level. |
Running Start – Defenseless Player
| Correct Call: | At the high school level this should be a defenseless player. The dark player’s head is down focusing on the ball, and the white player has a long running start when he hits the dark player. 2-3 minutes non-releasable. | |
| For this not to be a penalty: | The white player needs to stop before he gets to the dark player. When contact is made, it needs to not be violent or excessive. If contact is not violent or excessive and the dark player still falls down, after the white player stops before contact, this would not be a penalty. | |
| Game Level: | This should be called at every level. |
Stick does not count as closest to Ball
| Correct Call: | Even though the white team’s stick is closer to the ball when the ball goes out of bounds, it does not matter as the rule states that the players body (hand included) is what matters. Dark ball. |
Check to the head
| Correct Call: | Cross check to the head. 1-3 minutes non-releasable. At the 8 second mark the white player lands a check to the head. This should land in the 1-2 minute area. | |
| For this not to be a penalty: | Check needed to land on the shoulder or chest. | |
| Game Level: | This should be called at every level. |
Late hit or nothing at all?
| Correct Call: | The contact is just slightly late, so maybe unnecessary. There may be a cross check in there, but the defensive player may have made contact with his gloved hand first. How do we want to call this? |
Push from behind causes player out of bounds
| Correct Call: | Push from behind. 30 seconds technical foul. Even though it was a light push, and the offensive player may have over sold it, there is still contact, so a push has to be called. | |
| For this to not be a penalty: | Make contact without pushing, the arm extension makes this an easy call. | |
| Game Level: | This should be called at all levels. |
Body check into falling down player
| Correct Call: | This one is tricky. The defenseman clearly pulls back and tries to stop but does collide with the falling down attackman. We need to get consistent on this type of play. Reason this should be a penalty: The defenseman’s hands still make contact with the falling player’s head. Reason this should not be a penalty: The defenseman clearly tries to stop and should the falling attackman be considered a player that is turning? If the player didn’t fall, would the check have been legal? Even though contact comes after the shot, I don’t think it would have been unnecessary roughness, because the defensive player does pull back. |
Check that starts low, ends up in the neck
| Correct Call: | Cross check. 1 minute personal foul. This is one we have to be more consistent on. The check starts low but does end up in the neck. Per the rulebook, this should be a 1-3 minute non-releasable. How do we want to call this? | |
| For this to not be a penalty: | Keep the hands from sliding up into the neck. | |
| Game Level: | This could be called a more severe penalty on lower tiered games. |
Check follow through makes player fall
| Correct Call: | Tripping. 1 minute personal foul. This one is nuanced. Because the defender’s check first lands on the shoulder and never contacts the stick, and then trips the player, this should be tripping. In real time, this particular scenario will be really hard to distinguish between legal and illegal. | |
| For this to not be a penalty: | The initial check needs to get stick first. If he gets stick first, and the follow through ends up tripping the offensive player. No foul. | |
| Game Level: | This should be called at all levels, but a case could be made to allow this on upper level games. |