by Andrew Franz

Created on: January 22, 2009

In hockey, when a penalty is called during the course of play, a player on the infraction side needs to touch the puck before the whistle is blown. The referee raises his hand straight in the air, signalling the misdeed, and readies his whistle. These situations are called delayed penalties. When a defender touches the puck and the whistle is blown, the offending player will go sit in a penalty box (kind of like a time out room for big guys). That is unless the offensive team scores, negating the delayed penalty.

A player that hooks, trips, high sticks, boards, interferes, charges, or roughs and does not touch the puck has a delayed penalty. Often, the act of the penalty (i.e. grabbing a player's stick) will result in an immediate change in puck possession and whistle.

There are many advantages to possessing the puck on a delayed penalty. The player is in no real danger of getting scored on. As soon as the other team makes possession, the whistle will blow, therefore, it is time for the offensive team to take chances. The only way the offensive team can get scored on is to knock the puck into their own goal, which rarely occurs.

The offensive team will usually remove their goalie for an extra attacker. Once again, the whistle will blow when the other team touches the puck, so there is no need to block your own net as there is no possibility of a shot. The advantage of having 6 skaters versus 5 proves to pay off occasionally. It usually at least results in a shot on net.

If the offended team scores, the penalized player does not have to go in the box, however, there are some exceptions. If a team is already on the powerplay, the goal negates whatever penalty has the least amount of time. A delayed penalty has not even begun yet, therefore, it will have the longest amount of time. Also, if two penalties are called on the same play, the first penalty is negated when the goal is scored, but the second penalty still must be served. Finally, any major penalties are never negated. Most penalties in the NHL are two minutes, however, if a penalty is severe enough, it will be five minutes and cannot be negated. Five minute "majors" cannot be negated by a goal, even while they may be a delayed penalty. These are unusual circumstances as five minute majors are rarely called and they are usually accompanied by an injury so play is stopped anyway.

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