Charging is a penalty in

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

. Rule 42 of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

rulebook dictates that:

''A minor or major penalty shall be imposed on a player who skates, jumps into or charges an opponent in any manner.'' ''Charging shall mean the actions of a player who, as a result of distance traveled, shall violently check an opponent in any manner.''

A 'charge' is generally the result of attempting to hit an opposing player beyond what is called for with a typical hockey body check. This is based on the speed of the offending player, how the attacker propels themselves into the hit, or if they are targeting the

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

. The infraction may warrant any severity of penalty or combination of penalties as the officials deem fit, including a major plus a game misconduct, or suspension if the infraction results in injury to the opposing player.

References

External links

Rule book
at NHL Ice hockey penalties Violence in ice hockey Ice hockey terminology {{icehockey-stub