by D. Vogt

Created on: August 10, 2010

In ice hockey, holding is illegal interference in which a player uses his hands or arms to physically restrain an opposing player from skating down the ice or handling the puck. In the official National Hockey League (NHL) rules, holding is covered by Rule 54.

There are two basic types of holding. The first involves holding the body of an opponent. Physical contact between players is a regular part of NHL games, and a player is allowed to use an arm to hold back an opponent provided he is in possession of the puck or otherwise has an advantageous position. However, if a player uses a free arm to pull an opponent away from the puck or restrain him from skating freely down the ice, this can result in a holding call. A holding infraction always involves interference rather than actual violence, and therefore always results in a two-minute minor penalty, not a major penalty. A player who has been given a two-minute minor penalty must remain in the penalty box either for the full two minutes, or until the other team scores a goal. His team is left shorthanded in the meantime.

The second type of penalty involves holding the stick of an opponent, and is usually called and referred to distinctly as "holding the stick." The same principles apply here. A player may briefly have contact with an opponent's stick if it is, for instance, in the vicinity of his head and he is batting it away. He cannot, however, hold onto the stick to prevent the opponent from skating freely or reaching the puck, or use his grasp to tug the opposing player off-balance.

In addition, if a player is on a clear breakaway and is held from behind, or his stick is grabbed from behind, by a defenceman attempting to catch up, this can result in a penalty shot instead of a two-minute minor penalty. If the goalie of the defenceman's team had been removed from the ice at the time so that an extra attacker could come on, then instead of a penalty shot, the other team is awarded an automatic goal.

During the 1990s, holding became an important component of neutral-zone trap strategies, in which defensively oriented teams used very light holding as well as other techniques to stifle faster and more attack-oriented opponents and slow down the pace of the game. League executives long believed that this resulted in a more boring game from the perspective of the audience. As a result, one of the numerous major reforms instituted after the 2004-2005 lockout was an instruction to referees to consistently call holding, in hopes that this would speed up the pace of the game. This was partially successful, although a hoped-for significant increase in goal-scoring did not happen as dramatically as expected.

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