Rule 615 | Fighting
(Note) A punch, or an attempted punch, thrown by any player in the direction of an opponent, regardless as to whether contact is made, is considered fighting.
(a) A major plus a game misconduct penalty shall be assessed toany player who engages in fighting. An additional minorpenalty shall be assessed to any player who starts orinstigates fighting.
A minor penalty shall be assessed to any player who dropshis stick and/or removes his glove(s) during an altercationand is not a participant in the original altercation. A gamemisconduct penalty shall be added if, in the judgment of the Referee, such player is deemed to be the instigator of asubsequent altercation.
A minor, double minor or major plus game misconductpenalty, at the discretion of the Referee, shall be assessed toany player who, having been struck, continues thealtercation by retaliating. A player who does not retaliate after being struck shall not be assessed a penalty for fighting under this rule.
(Note) The Referee is provided very wide latitude in thepenalties that he may impose under the rules, includingRule 601 “Abuse of Officials and Other Misconduct” in aneffort to discourage fighting. This is done intentionally to enable the Referee to differentiate between the obvious degrees ofresponsibility of the participants either for starting thefighting or persisting in continuing the fighting.
(b) A major plus game misconduct penalty shall be assessed toany player involved in fighting off the playing surface, before,during or after the game.
(c)A match penalty (for all age classifications) shall be assessed to any player who deliberately removes his helmet/facemask prior to an altercation.
A match penalty (for all age classifications) shall be assessed to any player who deliberately removes his opponent's helmet/facemask prior to or during an altercation.
A game misconduct penalty (for all age classifications) shall be assessed to any player whose actions during an altercation causes the removal of an opponent's helmet and facemask. The player or goalkeeper shall be suspended for his team's next two scheduled games. This two-game suspension is in addition to any other required suspensions incurred during the same incident.
A game misconduct penalty (for all age classifications) shall be assessed to any player who doesn't wear his helmet/facemask as designed and the helmet/facemask is removed during an altercation.
(d) A game misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any player orgoalkeeper who is the first to intervene in an altercation thenin progress. This penalty is in addition to any other penaltyincurred in the same incident.
(e) A minor penalty shall be assessed to any player who fails tomove immediately and directly to their players’ bench (orgoal crease for a goalkeeper) when instructed to do so by theReferee during an altercation.
(f) Any player who receives a second major penalty for fightingwith the same team during the same season shall receive athree-game suspension. For a third fighting major with thesame team in the same season, the player shall be suspendeduntil a hearing is conducted by the proper authorities underRule 410 Supplementary Discipline.
