Illegal Check to the Head or Neck

48.1ILLEGAL CHECK TO THE HEAD OR NECK There is no clean check to the head or neck. The Player delivering the hit must avoid hitting the opponent’s head or neck. A hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable is not permitted. This rule supersedes all similar actions regarding hits to the head and neck. When a Player is skating with their head up, whether they are in possession of the puck and may reasonably be expecting impending contact, an opponent does not have the right to hit them to the head or neck. A Player who delivers a bodycheck to an opponent who is skating with the puck with their head down in the direction of the Player and does not use an upward motion or drive their body up into the opponent, shall not be penalized for an “illegal check to the head”. A penalty for “illegal check to the head or neck” will be assessed if one of the following occurs when a Player checks an opponent:

(I)            A Player who directs a hit of any sort, with any part of their body or equipment, to the head or neck of an opposing Player
               or drives or forces the head of an opposing Player into the protective glass or boards using any part of their upper body.
(II)           A Player who extends and directs any part of their upper body to contact the head or neck of an opponent.
(III)          A Player who extends their body upward or outward in order to reach their opponent or uses any part of the upper body
               to contact an opponent’s head or neck.
(IV)           A Player who jumps (leaves their skates) to deliver a blow to the head or neck of an opponent.

PHYSICAL INFRACTIONS In determining whether contact with an opponent's head was avoidable, the circumstances of the hit including the following shall be considered:

(V)           Whether the Player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not "picked" as a
              result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward. If the
              primary force of a blow is initially to the body area and then contact slides up to the head or neck.
(VI)          Whether the opponent put themself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an
              otherwise full body check unavoidable.
(VII)         Whether the opponent materially changed the position of their body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with
              the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact.

48.2MINOR PENALTY The Referee shall, at their discretion, assess a minor penalty to any Player who delivers an “illegal check to the head or neck” of an opponent. 06

48.3MAJOR PENALTY AND GAME MISCONDUCT PENALTY The Referee, at their discretion, may assess a major penalty and an automatic game misconduct penalty if, in their judgment, the Player recklessly endangers their opponent by an “illegal check to the head or neck”. Such assessment of reckless endangerment shall be based on the severity of the infraction, severity of the contact, the degree of violence and the general reprehensibility involved.

48.4DISCIPLINARY MEASURES If deemed appropriate, Supplementary Discipline can be applied by the Proper Authorities at their discretion. ➔ Rule 28→ – Supplementary Discipline.