Power-play goal: which penalty ends?
Rule numbers: USAH 402(c)
If a team is down a player because of minors or bench minors and gives up a goal, the earliest of its non-coincidental minors (or bench minors) ends right away. Two conditions are easy to miss. The team has to be outnumbered on the ice when the goal goes in, so coincidental minors that leave the teams equal do not count. And the rule does not apply to a goal scored on a penalty shot or to an awarded goal. A goal never ends a major or match penalty. Penalty timekeepers should keep penalties in the order they started, so the first minor is obvious when the goal light goes on.
This rule shall not apply when a goal is scored on a penalty shot or an awarded goal.
- On the ice
- The released player returns; the team is back to one fewer penalty.
- Clock
- Remove the first non-coincidental minor being served; majors stay.
- Scoresheet
- The minor stays recorded at full length; the goal is recorded normally.
Example
Team A is two players short. #4 is serving a minor that started first and #17 a minor that started later. Team B scores. #4's penalty ends and #4 returns; #17 keeps serving.
Common mistake: Releasing a player serving a major, releasing someone after a penalty-shot goal, or releasing a player when the teams were at equal strength.
Sources
- USA Hockey 2025-29 Official Rules and Casebook of Ice Hockey, Rule 402(c), p. 84 (PDF p. 118)
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