Ice Hockey Penalties: Minor, Major, and Misconduct

Ice Hockey Penalties: IIHF Rules at the Olympics

The penalty system defines the flow of Olympic ice hockey. A two-minute minor can shift momentum; a five-minute major can decide a game. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) rules used at the Olympics differ from the NHL in severity and enforcement, particularly regarding fighting and checking.

Types of Penalties

Minor Penalty (2 minutes): The most common penalty. The offending player sits in the penalty box for two minutes, and their team plays shorthanded (typically 5v4). If the opposing team scores during the power play, the penalty ends immediately.

Common minor penalties: tripping, hooking, slashing, holding, interference, cross-checking, delay of game, too many men on the ice.

Double Minor (2 + 2 minutes): Assessed for certain infractions (notably high-sticking that draws blood). The penalized player serves four minutes; if the opposing team scores during the first two minutes, the first minor ends but the second begins.

Major Penalty (5 minutes): Assessed for severe infractions: fighting, injurious hits, boarding, charging. Under IIHF rules, a major penalty automatically includes a game misconduct — the player is ejected. The team serves the five minutes with a substitute, but unlike minor penalties, the penalty does not end if the opposing team scores.

Misconduct (10 minutes): The player sits for 10 minutes, but the team does not play shorthanded — a substitute serves the time. Misconducts are typically assessed for unsportsmanlike behavior, arguing with officials, or accumulation of infractions.

Game Misconduct: The player is ejected from the game. The team does not play shorthanded unless the game misconduct accompanies a major penalty (which it always does under IIHF rules).

Match Penalty: The most severe penalty. The player is ejected from the game and automatically suspended from the next game. The infraction is reviewed by the IIHF Disciplinary Panel, which can impose additional suspensions. Match penalties are assessed for deliberate intent to injure.

Fighting: The Olympic Difference

Under IIHF rules, fighting is an automatic major penalty plus game misconduct. Both participants are ejected. This is starkly different from the NHL, where fighting results in a five-minute major but no ejection. As a result, fights are extraordinarily rare in Olympic hockey — the cost is simply too high.

Penalty Shot

A penalty shot is awarded when a player with a clear breakaway (between the foul and the opponent’s goal, with no opposing player between them) is fouled from behind. The fouled player (or a designated shooter) takes a solo attempt against the goalkeeper from center ice.

Coincidental Penalties

When players from both teams are penalized simultaneously for equal infractions, they serve their penalties but the teams play at even strength (no power play). Substitutes replace the penalized players on the ice.

Penalty Killing Strategy

Shorthanded teams use a “box” or “diamond” formation, collapsing toward their goal and clearing the puck when possible. Icing is not called against the shorthanded team — a crucial rule that allows them to dump the puck the length of the ice to relieve pressure.

Olympic-Specific Enforcement

IIHF referees at the Olympics tend to call a tighter game than NHL officials. Obstruction penalties (hooking, holding, interference) are enforced more strictly, and hits to the head receive immediate major penalties and game misconducts. The IIHF also uses video review for all major penalties and match penalties.