by Peter Hendsbee

Created on: April 14, 2009

In the National Hockey League the term "delayed penalties" is used to describe two distinct conditions under which a player receives a penalty. The first is when a penalty is called but two players from the same team are already serving penalties, and the second is when a penalty is called but play on the ice continues until the penalized team gains control of the puck or play on the ice is stopped for other reasons.

The National Hockey League rule book for 2007 - 2008 describes the official Delayed Penalties rule as; "If a third player of any team shall be penalized while two players of the same team are serving penalties, the penalty time of the third player shall not commence until the penalty time of one of the two players already penalized has elapsed". The main reason for this rule is that the league does not allow a team to have less than three players on the ice at a time. Therefore, if the penalized team only has three players on the ice because the additional two players are serving penalties, the third penalty has no effect unless it is served after one of the other penalties expires.

The following example will provide an idea of how this rule is enforced during a game. As members of the same team, Player A receives a minor penalty and goes to the penalty box for two minutes and Player B is given a minor penalty for two minutes, thirty seconds later. Another thirty seconds after that Player C receives the teams third penalty. At this point Player A has one minute remaining in his penalty and Player B has one minute, thirty seconds remaining in his penalty. When the third penalty is called, Player C must go to the penalty box but his actual penalty time does not begin until one minute later when Player A's penalty expires. Assuming Player C received a minor penalty of two minutes; he is confined to the penalty box for a total of three minutes because his two minute penalty cannot begin until the final one minute of Player A's penalty expires. Note that during the first minute that Player C is in the penalty box, prior to Player A's time expiring, a fourth player will replace Player C on the ice, keeping the total number of players on the ice at three; the minimum allowed.

The second situation, also referred to as a "delayed penalty", is described in the National Hockey League rule book within the section regarding the calling of penalties. It states, "Should an infraction of the rules which would call for a minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct or

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