Unnecessary Roughness
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? |
Late hit after a goal
| Correct Call: | Unnecessary roughness. 1 minute personal foul. The penalty happens after the goal so there will be no faceoff. White ball at the mid line. | |
| For this to not be a penalty: | The hit is late and from behind, the contact needs to come at or before the shooter shoots the ball, and the contact needs to be from the side or the front. | |
| Game Level: | This should be called at all levels. |
Contact on passer after the pass
| Correct Call: | Unnecessary Roughness. 1 minute personal foul. While this hit happens from the rear, even if this was from the front or side it would be late and illegal. At the high school level this could also be a defenseless player penalty, where it would be a 2-3 minute non-releasable. | |
| For this to not be a penalty: | Make contact from the front or side and before the passer gets rid of the ball. | |
| Game Level: | On lower level games this should be a defenseless player, 2-3 minute non-releasable. For higher level games, the velocity is right on the border of warranting a defenseless player penalty. |
Defenseman checks pick setter
| Correct Call: | Unnecessary roughness. 1 min. Possible 2-3 minutes if check was to the head or neck area. The on ball defenseman looks at the pick setter and then decides to cross check them. | |
| For this to not be a penalty: | The on ball defenseman needs to keep his eyes on the ball and not on the pick. If the on ball defenseman does look at the pick setter, no violent contact should be made. Contact alone does not make this a penalty. | |
| Game Level: | This should be called at all levels. |
Shooter runs into defenseman after the shot
| Correct Call: | Unnecessary Roughness. 1 min. While the shooting players speed carries him into the defender, the defender makes a clear attempt to body check the shooter, even after the ball has been out of his stick for a couple seconds. | |
| For this to not be a penalty: | The body check would need to come sooner, or as the shooter runs into the defenseman, make more of an effort to not extend his hands and just stand there, or step aside. | |
| Game Level: | This should be called at all levels. |