Understanding Ice Hockey: What is the Delay of Game Penalty?

The game of ice hockey can be tricky to understand to the untrained fan. One rule that tends to confuse a fair number of people is the delay of game penalty. The referee can give a delay of game penalty to any player or team that delays in the game in any way. Players are not the only people who can receive a penalty, but goalkeepers can as well. For most delay of game penalties a warning is first given but it is not always necessary.

Some of the infractions that cause a delay of game penalty in ice hockey include extremely slow line changes, intentionally knocking the goal out of place, or refusing to line up properly at a face-off. If any player is guilty of these infractions then he or she will be give the two minute minor penalty for delaying the game. When a team is given a delay of game penalty then the captain is responsible for choosing the player on his or her team that will be serving the penalty. The captain must select any player that was on the ice at the time of the penalty to serve it.

Unlike some of the other penalties in ice hockey, a delay of game penalty can only be two minutes in length. There is no such thing as a major delay of game penalty, so a five minute penalty cannot be assessed by the referee. However, if a single player is responsible for delaying the game in a way such as having no mouth guard, then the referee can give the offending player a ten minute misconduct penalty instead. If the misconduct penalty is given, then the team is not penalized by having to be shorthanded, but only the player who caused the penalty is forced to sit in the box.

If the goalkeeper happens to receive a delay of game penalty that a player from his or her team is responsible for serving the two minutes in the penalty box for the goalie. It is up to the captain or the coach to select a player from his or her team to serve the penalty on behalf of the goalie. One special reason that a goalie can receive a delay of game penalty for in ice hockey is for shooting the hockey puck outside of the playing surface over the high glass. This is automatically a two minute penalty under the delay of game rules.