What are the penalties in ice hockey, and how long is each one?

Ice hockey penalties are ranked by two things: how many minutes the offender serves and whether the team must play short-handed. The ladder runs minor (2 minutes), double minor (4), major (5), misconduct (10), then game misconduct, match penalty, and the penalty shot.

When a referee calls an infraction, play stops once the penalized team touches the puck and the guilty player goes to the penalty box. Only the penalties that leave the team a skater down create a power play for the opponent.

Penalty	Minutes	Short-handed?	Ends early on a goal?
Minor	2	Yes	Yes
Bench minor	2	Yes	Yes
Double minor	4	Yes	First minor only
Major	5	Yes	No
Misconduct	10	No	Not applicable
Game misconduct	Ejection	No	Not applicable
Match penalty	5 + ejection	Yes	No
Penalty shot	—	No	—

The distinction that trips up new fans is the misconduct: the player sits for 10 minutes, yet a substitute keeps the team at full strength, so there is no advantage. To see how a one-skater edge is converted, read our power play and penalty kill guide. For the arm signals the referee uses to announce each call, see the ice hockey referee guide.

A minor penalty is 2 minutes served in the penalty box while the team plays short-handed, and it ends the instant the team on the power play scores. It is by far the most common call in a hockey game.

A standard minor puts one skater in the box and hands the opponent a power play. If that opponent scores while the minor is running, the penalty is over and the player returns immediately — one goal releases him.

A bench minor is also 2 minutes, but it punishes the whole team rather than a named player, most often for too many men on the ice. The coach designates a player already on the ice to serve the time.

A double minor is 4 minutes — two 2-minute minors served back to back. The textbook trigger is high-sticking that draws blood. Here the early-goal rule is only half as generous: a goal in the first two minutes ends the first minor, but the player stays to serve the second. It takes two goals to clear a double minor early.

Because a minor ends on a goal, the team on the power play often pushes hard in the opening seconds. A single quick strike can turn a two-minute disadvantage into a ten-second one, which is why penalty-killing units defend the front of the net so aggressively.

A major penalty is 5 minutes and runs its full length no matter how many goals the opponent scores — the single biggest difference from a minor. Majors punish serious fouls such as fighting or a dangerous check, and are frequently paired with a game misconduct.

A major penalty keeps the team short-handed for the whole five minutes. The opponent can score once, twice, or three times and the player still does not leave the box until the clock hits zero.

A misconduct penalty is 10 minutes served by the individual player. Crucially, a teammate replaces him on the ice, so the team is not short-handed and no power play results — the punishment falls on the player, not the scoreboard.

A game misconduct ejects the player for the rest of the game. It is often added on top of a major; a teammate serves any accompanying five-minute time.

A match penalty is the most severe call in the book: immediate ejection for a deliberate attempt to injure an opponent, plus a 5-minute penalty that a teammate serves in the box. The referee files a report and the league usually reviews it for supplementary discipline.

So the minutes tell only half the story. Ten misconduct minutes hurt the player's ice time but not the team's five-on-five; five major minutes hurt the team every second they last.

A penalty shot is a free one-on-one attempt against the goaltender, awarded when a foul robs an attacker of a clear scoring chance. The classic case is a player on a breakaway fouled from behind with no defender between him and the net.

Referees also award a penalty shot when a defender displaces the net on purpose during a scoring chance, covers the puck with a hand in the crease, or throws a stick at the puck. The idea is simple: restore the goal that the foul stole.

The attempt itself is a single, uninterrupted try. The player starts at center ice, skates in, and gets one shot — no rebound counts. Every other skater waits at the far end while the shooter faces the goalie alone. If he scores, it counts as a normal goal; if he misses, play resumes with a face-off.

A penalty shot does not put the offending team short-handed on its own, though the underlying foul may still carry a minor or major. Because it isolates shooter and goalie, conversion rates hover around one in three at elite level, so a penalty shot is a real chance but far from a certain goal. It is the most theatrical moment in hockey short of overtime, and the only time the whole rink watches a single duel.

Most penalties are minors for stick fouls or illegal body contact. The eleven you will hear called most often are listed below, each a 2-minute minor unless it escalates.

• Tripping — using the stick, leg, or knee to trip an opponent.
• Hooking — using the stick blade to hook and impede a player.
• Slashing — swinging or chopping the stick at an opponent.
• High-sticking — stick contact above shoulder height; drawing blood makes it a double minor (4 minutes).
• Boarding — checking an opponent violently into the boards.
• Cross-checking — a check delivered with both hands on the stick and no part of it on the ice.
• Roughing — unnecessary shoving or a scuffle short of a fight.
• Holding — grabbing an opponent or his stick to slow him down.
• Interference — impeding a player who does not have the puck.
• Delay of game — most often shooting the puck over the glass from your own defensive zone.
• Too many men on the ice — a bench minor served by a designated player.

Escalation depends on intent and injury. The same cross-check can be a minor, a major, or a major plus game misconduct depending on how dangerous the referee judges it. That judgement — not a fixed tariff — is why identical-looking fouls sometimes draw different minutes.

A penalized player serves the full time in the penalty box, and during a minor or major the team may not replace him — that gap is exactly what puts the team short-handed. Two special cases change the arithmetic on the ice.

Coincidental minors happen when both teams are penalized on the same stoppage. The players sit, but each side is down the same number of skaters, so the game is played 4-on-4 with no power play for either team.

A delayed penalty is called when the non-offending team has the puck. The referee raises an arm and lets play continue until the offending team touches the puck, at which point the whistle blows. The clever twist: because no whistle comes until then, the non-offending team can pull its goalie for an extra attacker, briefly attacking 6-on-5 with no risk of conceding.

If the non-offending team scores while that arm is still raised, a single minor is washed out and not served — a major still stands. When no goal comes, the penalty is assessed once play stops, and the box clock starts only at the face-off after the stoppage.

A free tool such as JudgeMate's ice hockey scoreboard runs each penalty timer with a live countdown, so players, coaches, and spectators can see exactly when a team returns to full strength. Keeping the box clock honest is one of the scorekeeper's most important jobs during a tight game.