States May Allow Ice Hockey Teams to Select Faceoff Location After Icing, Penalty Infractions

With a change in high school ice hockey rules for the 2026-27 season, states may choose to enact a rule that will provide the non-offending team a subtle benefit from an icing or penalty infraction by the offending team.

With a new Article 12 in Rule 9-1, by state association adoption, the non-offending team may select the faceoff location for an infraction under Rule 9-1-11a (icing) and 9-11-1k (penalty).

This addition was one of four rules changes recommended by the NFHS Ice Hockey Rules Committee at its meeting last month in Indianapolis and which were subsequently approved by the NFHS Rules Review Committee and NFHS Board of Directors.

“There has been positive support for this change from many officials, coaches and players, including a one-year experiment by a state, so the committee voted to provide states the opportunity to implement the change next year,” said Dan Schuster, NFHS director of educational services and liaison to the NFHS Ice Hockey Rules Committee.

The committee also revised Rule 3-3-5 to make a stronger emphasis on risk minimization regarding goalkeeper equipment. The words “catching” and “blocker” were added to the rule to correspond with the diagram in the NFHS Ice Hockey Rules Book. This ensures that if the goalkeeper’s “catching glove” or “blocker” is displaced, play shall be stopped immediately.

Another change was approved in Rule 7 regarding Physical and Stick Fouls. The word “violently” was dropped from 7-18-1 regarding boarding because the committee noted that there are times when the definition of boarding is met without the requirement to be “violently” throwing an opponent into the boards. A MINOR penalty would result from this change, though if thrown violently into the boards it would remain a MAJOR penalty.

The committee noted that this does not change the additional MISCONDUCT or DISQUALIFICATION penalties for flagrant or headfirst actions in 7-18-2.       

The final change was one regarding uniforms that has been implemented across all sports. Rule 2-1-2c now states that “the school’s name, nickname, logo, mascot, and/or the player’s name are permitted on the jersey.”

The Ice Hockey Rules Committee approved three major points of emphasis for the 2026-27 season, including Sportsmanship, Health and Safety, and Game Management for Officials. One note within sportsmanship concerns taunting. Celebrating with one’s teammates and fans is encouraged rather than taunting opponents or even jumping into the glass near the student section of the opponents. The committee strongly emphasized that taunting has no place in high school hockey.  

A complete listing of the ice hockey rules changes will be available on the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org. Click on “Sports” at the top of the home page and select “Ice Hockey” and then “Rules.” The print version of the 2026-27 Ice Hockey Rules Book will be available for purchase in August at www.NFHS.com, and the digital version will be available in August via NFHS Digital at www.NFHS.org. 

According to the 2024-25 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, a total of 32,253 boys participated in ice hockey at 1,682 schools across the country, and 9,589 girls played the sport at 904 schools.