Coach's Guide to USA Hockey 14U Ice Hockey 2026-27

Roster limits for a 14U game:

• Maximum 20 players, of which no more than 18 may be skaters. (The 22-player limit applies only to Tier I 15-Only, 16U, 18U and Girls 19U.)
• You must start with at least six players. A team reduced to fewer than four forfeits.
• Up to four Team Officials on the bench.
• A rostered player who can't play (other than through suspension) may sit on the bench in the team jersey with all required head and face protection, but must not be listed on the game sheet as eligible.

Before the game, the scoresheet must show:

• Every eligible player and goalie, each with a visible whole number from 0 to 99.
• One Captain and no more than two Alternates. A goalie can't exercise the captain's privileges.
• The signatures of all coaches, one designated as Head Coach, with each coach's CEP card number, CEP level and year attained.

Adding a player after the game starts: an eligible player may be added at a stoppage, as long as nobody is deleted and the roster maximum isn't exceeded. Each added player costs a bench minor for illegal substitution.

All players must be dressed uniformly, and it's recommended you have a fully equipped backup goalie.

Youth (boys/co-ed) 14U is a Body Checking category. Girls' 14U is not: body checking is prohibited in all girls' and women's classifications.

Exceptions where checking is still prohibited at Youth 14U:

• Your local governing body has made the league non-checking (it may do so at any level).
• You're playing a team from a Competitive Contact category.

A legal body check:

• Is delivered to an opponent who is in control of the puck, from the front, diagonally from the front or straight from the side.
• Uses only the trunk (hips and shoulders), contacting the opponent above the knees and at or below the shoulders.
• Is aimed at gaining possession of the puck, so the checker's stick blade must be below the knees.
• Never uses the hands, forearm, stick or elbow.

Never legal: checking a vulnerable or defenseless player, a late check on a player no longer in control of the puck, "finishing the check," checking from behind or contact to the head. When done recklessly with no effort to play the puck, these draw a major plus game misconduct or a match penalty.

Coaches are directed to teach only the skills needed for proper, legal contact.

Two rules that apply at higher levels don't apply at 14U (boys or girls):

1. A short-handed team can't ice the puck.
At 14U, icing is called even when your team is killing a penalty. The short-handed exception only starts at Youth 15-Only, Girls 16U, high school and adult.

2. No delayed offside or tag-up.
At 14U, play is stopped as soon as an attacking player precedes the puck into the zone. Delayed offside (where players can clear the zone to tag up) only applies at Youth 15-Only, Girls 16U, high school and adult.

Icing basics (all levels): a puck shot from your own half of the ice completely past the opponent's goal line is icing, with the face-off in the offending team's end. It's waved off if the puck touches an opponent, goes the length of the ice off the face-off, or the linesperson judges that an opponent (other than the goalie) could have played it. A goal still counts if the iced puck goes in.

Offside basics: a player is onside if one skate is touching the blue line or the neutral zone when the puck completely crosses the blue line. A player in control of the puck who precedes it into the zone is not offside.

Penalties are actual playing time, scaled to the period length you're playing:

• Minors are pro-rated by rule. At 14U and older, Affiliates may grant exceptions to the pro-rated minor schedule.
• Majors, misconducts and match penalties are 5:00 / 10:00 / 5:00 by rule. Affiliates or governing bodies may reduce them on the scale above.

Key penalty rules:

• A power-play goal ends the first non-coincidental minor being served by the short-handed team. It doesn't apply to goals on a penalty shot or awarded goals, and majors aren't ended.
• Coincidental minors or majors (equal numbers to both teams) allow immediate substitution, and those players stay in the box until the first stoppage after their time expires.
• A bench minor is served by any non-penalized player who was on the ice at the time of the infraction, designated by the coach through the captain.
• Minor plus misconduct to one player: you must put an extra player in the box to serve the minor.
• Major plus game misconduct, or a match penalty: a substitute must serve the time in the box (unless coincidental).

Automatic game misconducts:

• A player's 4th penalty in the same game (youth classifications).
• A player's 2nd misconduct in the same game (given in place of the second misconduct).
• A player's 2nd major in the same game. This one carries a two-game suspension.

What a game misconduct means: the player or Team Official is out for the rest of the game and suspended for the team's next scheduled game. Every game misconduct is reported to the proper authorities, who can add more.

Head coach suspension: if your team gets 12 or more penalties in one game, the head coach is suspended for the team's next game.

Match penalty: the player or Team Official is removed and suspended from all USA Hockey games and practices until the proper authorities rule under the Standardized Discipline Policy. A hearing must be offered within 30 days, and any suspension is at least one complete game.

Serving a suspension: from 45 minutes before to 30 minutes after each game, the suspended person may not communicate with the team in person or electronically, be in the locker room, or be on or near the bench.

Suspensions from a State, District or National championship must be served at that event.

Fighting (any punch or attempted punch toward an opponent, contact or not):

• Major plus game misconduct for each player fighting, which includes the next-game suspension. The instigator also gets an extra minor.
• 2nd fighting major with the same team in the same season: three-game suspension.
• 3rd fighting major: suspended until a hearing by the proper authorities.
• Deliberately removing your own helmet/facemask before an altercation, or an opponent's: match penalty. Being the first to intervene in an altercation: game misconduct.

Aggressive major penalties (boarding, body checking in a non-checking game, butt-ending, charging, checking from behind, cross-checking, elbowing, head-butting, head contact, high sticks, holding/grabbing the facemask, kicking, kneeing, slashing, spearing, tripping/clipping/leg checking/slew footing, roughing). In one season:

These are added on top of any other suspension from the same incident.

Under USA Hockey's Zero Tolerance Policy, a coach gets a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct for:

1. Openly disputing or arguing any official's decision.
2. Using obscene, profane or abusive language to anyone at any time.
3. Visibly showing dissatisfaction with a call, such as standing on the boards or in the bench doorway to incite officials, players or spectators.

If the coach persists, it's a game misconduct, which also means sitting out the team's next game.

Hateful or discriminatory language anywhere in the rink, before, during or after the game, is a match penalty. The coach is suspended until a hearing by the USA Hockey Affiliate.

Other bench rules:

• Up to four Team Officials may be on the bench, and only rostered officials and players in uniform.
• A coach with a game misconduct or match penalty, or serving a suspension, may not be near the bench or direct the team in any way.
• If no Team Official is left on the bench, play continues only with adult supervision there. Otherwise the referee suspends the game.

Only the captain or an alternate (not the goalie) may discuss rule interpretations with the referee.

Under the USA Hockey Concussion Management Protocol (and most state laws):

1. Remove the player from the practice, training or game immediately if they show any sign, symptom or behavior consistent with a concussion, or you suspect one.
2. Make sure they're evaluated by an appropriate health care professional. Don't judge the severity yourself.
3. Tell the parents or guardians about the known or possible concussion.
4. Allow a return only with written clearance from a qualified medical provider.

The paperwork: the USA Hockey Concussion Return to Play Form must be signed by the health care professional (with license number) and by a parent or guardian. You then sign it to confirm you received the clearance. Keep it before letting the player return to full practice or games.

Signs to watch for: dazed or stunned, confused about assignment, forgets plays, unsure of score or opponent, clumsy, slow to answer, any loss of consciousness, personality changes, can't recall events before or after the hit.

Line changes at a stoppage: after the referee's signal, the visiting team has 5 seconds to change, then the home team has 5 seconds. Undue delay draws a warning, then a minor for delay of game. Once the change procedure is done, no more changes until the face-off, unless a penalty changes on-ice strength.

Changes on the fly: the player leaving must be at the bench and out of play before the replacement enters. If either player plays the puck, makes contact with an opponent or gains an advantage while the other is still on, it's a bench minor for too many players.

Timeouts:

• Each team gets one 60-second timeout per game, regulation or overtime. None are allowed in time-curfew games.
• Request it during a stoppage, before the line change procedure is finished.
• A timeout can be used to warm up a goalie, with no more than four pucks.

Goalies:

• You can pull or change a goalie during play once they're at the bench, or during a stoppage within the line-change procedure.
• A goalie may not go to the bench during a stoppage without the referee's permission (except during timeouts), unless replaced. Violation: bench minor.
• An injured goalie gets no extra time. They must resume immediately or be replaced, and a substitute goalie gets no warm-up unless a timeout is used.

Required for every 14U player and goalie:

• HECC-certified helmet with a current (unexpired) sticker, unaltered, chin strap fastened.
• HECC-certified full facemask, including its chin cup.
• HECC-certified neck laceration protector (BNQ-certified also accepted through 2026-27).
• Colored (non-clear) internal mouthpiece covering the remaining teeth of one jaw.

Helmets and facemasks must stay on on the bench and in the penalty box. After a referee's warning, a violation there is a misconduct.

Penalties for violations:

• Missing or altered helmet, facemask, mouthpiece or neck guard, or equipment not worn as designed: after a team warning and removal of the player from the ice, a misconduct for an equipment violation.
• Illegal stick: minor penalty. Refusing to surrender a stick for measurement: minor plus misconduct.
• Glove with the palm cut out: misconduct.
• Electronic devices worn by a player during play (except medical): misconduct. Using any device to dispute an official's call: bench minor.

Jewelry must be fully covered or taped, and hard casts or splints need a physician's written direction and at least ½-inch closed-cell padding on all exterior surfaces.

Video used for coaching on the bench is permitted.