Rule 4.3 – Bench Minor Penalties

Rule 4.3 – Bench Minor Penalties

A Bench Minor penalty is a two-minute time penalty, to be served in the Penalty Bench by any player of the offending team, who was on the ice at the time of the infraction.

  1. A Bench Minor penalty requires the team against which the penalty is assessed to play a player short for a period of two minutes of actual playing time.

  2. Whenever a Bench Minor penalty is to be assessed, if the player guilty of the actual infraction (including players in the Penalty Bench) can be identified by the Referee, that player will serve the penalty. However, if the player is not identified, then the Coach of the penalized team, through the Captain, will designate any player who was on the ice at the time of the infraction to serve the penalty.

    Note 1: In a “Too Many Players” situation, there is not necessarily a single, clearly-identifiable offending player. Therefore, the Coach of the offending team is permitted to select any player who was on the ice, at the time of the infraction to serve the penalty.

INTERPRETATIONS

Interpretation 1

Rule 4.3 (a)

Where a team is assessed a Bench Minor penalty, that penalty must be served by a player on the ice. If, during the same stoppage of play, the team is assessed another Bench Minor penalty, a second player who was on the ice must serve this second Bench Minor penalty. The offending team would resume play two players short.