How long is each type of penalty and what is recorded for it?
Rule- Canada
- Hockey Canada
- Playing Rules 2026-28
- Off-ice officials
- Timekeeping
- Scorekeeping
- All ages
- 2026-27
Penalties are in actual playing time (Rule 4.1). From Rule 4 of the Hockey Canada Playing Rules 2026-2028:
- Minor: two minutes. Any player except a goaltender is removed and placed in the Penalty Bench, and the team plays shorthanded.
- Bench Minor: two minutes, served by a player who was on the ice at the time of the infraction. If the guilty player is identified, that player serves it. If not, the coach, through the captain, designates a player who was on the ice. The team plays a player short.
- Major: five minutes, always with a Game Misconduct. The coach, through the captain, designates a player who was on the ice to serve it.
- Misconduct: 10 minutes, not a shorthanded penalty. The player remains in the Penalty Bench until the first stoppage after the penalty expires. A second Misconduct in the same game automatically becomes a Game Misconduct.
- Game Misconduct: the player is removed for the rest of the game and 10 minutes is recorded on the Official Game Report.
- Game Ejection: the player is removed. No time is recorded on the Official Game Report. It applies at three Minor stick-infraction penalties in a game (and, in Minor or Female divisions, three Minor or double Minor Head Contact penalties). A double Minor counts as one infraction.
- Gross Misconduct: the player or team official is removed and 10 minutes is recorded on the Official Game Report.
- Match: five minutes, and the team is shorthanded. A player who was on the ice serves the five minutes.
The Official Scorer must record each penalty's player name and number, duration, infraction and the time it was assessed (Rule 5.6 (c)).
Updated 25 Oct 2026