Time-outs in 2026-28: one per game, and no extra one in men's overtime
Rule numbers: NCAA 92.1 NCAA 92.2 NCAA 92.3
Each team gets one one-minute time-out per game, taken at a normal stoppage; a player designated by the coach asks the referee before the puck is dropped. Division I men's games add limits: no time-out after a face-off violation, and none for a defending team that is not permitted to substitute. In regular-season overtime, men's teams get no additional time-out; women's teams get one when regulation ends tied, but it is not an extra one when the team has not used its regulation time-out. In postseason overtime each team gets one time-out per overtime period, and an unused regulation time-out is lost. A coach's challenge is not a time-out request, and no time-out is granted once penalty-shot instructions are given or during a shootout.
There shall be no additional time-outs if the game is tied after 60 minutes of play.
- Clock
- Game clock stays stopped; the game timekeeper times the minute and signals the end.
Example
Men's regular season, tied after 60. Team A used its time-out in the second period and asks for one in overtime. The referee denies it.
Common mistake: Granting men's teams an extra overtime time-out, or treating a coach's challenge as a time-out request.
Sources
- NCAA 2026-27 and 2027-28 Men's and Women's Ice Hockey Rules and Interpretations (IH28), Rule 92.1-92.3, pp. 111-112 (PDF pp. 114-115)
Verified