Icing in NFHS: no race, and the penalty-expiring exception
Rule numbers: NFHS 9-5-1 NFHS 9-5-2 NFHS 9-5-3
NFHS icing is a no-touch rule: it happens the instant the puck is past the other team's goal line extended, after being shot, batted or deflected from the offending team's side of center by a team that is not short a player. There is no race to the dots as in NCAA hybrid icing. Icing is waved off when the shooting team was down in numbers, when the puck came straight off a faceoff, when it touched an opponent, when an opposing skater (not the goalkeeper) could have played it, or when the goalkeeper played it. Near the end of a penalty, the test is applied at the second the penalty expires, so a shot launched before then is not icing. If officials whistle icing by mistake, the faceoff goes to center ice.
- On the ice
- Icing: whistle the moment the puck is past the goal line extended.
- Clock
- Check the penalty clock at the moment the shot was made.
Example
Team A is killing a penalty that has one second left. A Team A defender fires the puck the length of the rink, and it reaches the goal line after the penalty has ended. That is not icing: the shot left his stick while the team was still shorthanded.
Common mistake: Holding the whistle for a race to the dots as if it were NCAA, or calling icing on a puck that was shot while the penalty was still running.
Sources
- 2024-25 NFHS Ice Hockey Rules Book, Rule 9-5-1 to 9-5-3, p. 48
Verified