Player's Guide to USA Hockey Adult (18+) Non-Check Ice Hockey 2026-27

Body checking is prohibited in all non-check adult classifications. These are Competitive Contact levels.

Penalties:

• Body check (intentional contact using overt hip, shoulder, forearm or torso action, or forcing an opponent off the puck with no effort to play it): minor.
• A body check that recklessly endangers an opponent: major plus game misconduct.
• A match penalty for reckless endangerment may also be given for a body check in a non-check adult game.

Legal competitive contact (not penalized):

• Angling the puck carrier to close the gap.
• Physical engagement: leaning into an opponent while both of you are going for the puck.
• Holding your position: collisions while you're playing the puck and holding your established position. No one has to get out of an oncoming player's way.

Contact after the whistle, late hits, checking from behind and head contact are penalized under their own rules at every level.

Penalty lengths in Adult classifications (actual playing time, not scaled to period length):

The option to shorten majors, misconducts and match penalties doesn't apply to adults.

Major plus game misconduct, or a match penalty (adult rule):

• Your team doesn't have to put a substitute in the penalty box.
• The team plays short-handed for the penalty time. When it expires, the team can add a player from the bench to return to full strength.

Other penalty basics:

• A power-play goal ends the first non-coincidental minor being served.
• Equal penalties to both teams (coincidental) are replaced immediately on the ice, and those players come out at the first stoppage after their time is up.
• A player who's both penalized and injured may go straight to the dressing room, with a substitute serving the time.

Five penalties in one game: an adult player who gets five penalties in the same game is ejected for the rest of that game, with no further suspension. (Youth players get a game misconduct after four.)

Penalties that carry into future games:

The local disciplinary authority can also review any incident after the game and add suspensions, even if no penalty was called.

While serving a suspension: from 45 minutes before until 30 minutes after each game, you may not contact the team in person or electronically, be in the locker room, or be on or near the bench.

A punch or attempted punch toward an opponent counts as fighting, whether or not it lands.

Repeat offenders: a second fighting major with the same team in the same season brings a three-game suspension. A third means suspension until a hearing.

A match penalty means:

• You're removed for the rest of the game, and your team plays short-handed for 5 minutes. In adult games, your team doesn't have to put a substitute in the box. When the time expires, it can add a player from the bench to get back to full strength.
• It's charged as 10 minutes in the records.
• You're suspended from all USA Hockey games and practices until the proper authorities handle your case under USA Hockey's Standardized Discipline Policy.
• If either side requests a hearing, it must be offered within 30 days. If the authorities can't hold it in time, you're automatically reinstated after 30 days (they can still hold the hearing and impose discipline later).
• If you're suspended, it's for at least one complete game.

Common causes of a match penalty:

• attempting to injure or recklessly endangering an opponent
• hateful or discriminatory language anywhere in the rink
• physically assaulting an official
• deliberately removing your own helmet before a fight, or an opponent's
• cutting or injuring an opponent in an altercation while wearing tape or other material on your hands

The referee must file a report within 24 hours.

Yes to both. Adult classifications use the same rules as Youth 15-Only and older, girls' 16U and older, and high school.

Short-handed icing: a team that is short-handed (below the opponent's on-ice strength) when it shoots the puck may ice it without a whistle. This is judged when the penalty expires: if the puck was shot before the penalty time ran out, no icing is called.

Delayed offside: when an attacking player precedes the puck into the zone, the linesperson signals a delayed offside instead of stopping play. It's cleared if:

• the puck leaves the zone, or
• all attacking players are out of the zone at the same instant by touching the blue line (tag-up).

Play is stopped if an attacking player touches the puck, tries to gain possession or keeps pressuring the defending puck carrier. An intentional offside moves the face-off to the offending team's end zone.

When a tied game must be played until there's a winner, USA Hockey recommends:

1. A 5-minute rest.
2. A 10-minute sudden-victory overtime period. The first goal wins. If nobody scores, repeat.
3. Teams may play with reduced strength, but never fewer than three skaters plus a goalie. With penalties, it's played 5-on-4, 4-on-3 or 5-on-3, and players return when their penalty expires.

Also:

• Overtime counts as part of the game, so unexpired penalties carry over.
• A shootout may be used in addition to, or instead of, overtime. A player serving a minor or misconduct when the shootout starts can't take part.
• A team that refuses to play the required overtime or shootout loses the game.

Affiliates and local governing bodies may set their own format, including overtime length, number of periods and shootout rounds.