A player can win position in a puck battle without being allowed to grab an opponent or keep their stick trapped. The key is whether the action restrains the player or takes away their ability to use the stick normally.
This page uses the International Ice Hockey Federation Official Rule Book 2026/27, Version 1.0, June 2026, checked on 20 September 2026. Every rule number, explanation and example below refers to that edition, principally Rule 54.
NHL, NCAA, national-association and local competitions appoint their own rules. Check the competition's governing body and effective edition before applying these rulings elsewhere. The IIHF rules hub provides its current official publications.
Rule 54.1 concerns actions that restrain an opponent or impede their progress. Rule 54.2 specifies holding with the hands, arms or legs. Grabbing a jersey to slow a skater, wrapping an arm around an opponent to stop them leaving a battle, or using the legs to hold them in place can meet that test.
The opponent does not need to possess the puck. A player held while chasing a loose puck can be fouled just as a puck carrier can. Nor does Rule 54 require a fall or an injury: the restraint itself is the issue.
For a replay, watch what the hand, arm or leg does and how it affects the opponent's movement. Contact alone does not establish a hold; a grip or wrap that stops a player moving freely is more informative than whether they fall afterwards.
Rule 54.2 permits an arm to block an opponent in a strength move when the player already has body position and does not use the hands to hold. This allows a distinction between maintaining position and reaching out to seize someone who is getting past.
For example, a player with body position can brace with an arm during a contest for space without automatically committing holding. If that player grabs the opponent's jersey or turns the arm into a restraining wrap, the exception no longer protects the action.
This is a narrow holding exception, not permission for every body check or obstruction. Other contact rules still apply. See body checking and legal contact for those separate limits.
Rule 54.2 separately prohibits holding an opponent's stick. The referee assesses and announces this as holding the stick. An obvious example is closing the free hand around the shaft and keeping it there so the opponent cannot play normally.
A player who deliberately clamps the opponent's stick under an arm and keeps it trapped is also holding that stick; an open hand does not make the restraint legal. Merely having two sticks cross or briefly touch does not, on its own, show that either player held the other's stick.
Do not confuse this with hooking under Rule 55. Hooking uses the offender's own stick to restrain an opponent. Holding the stick takes control of the opponent's stick. The action, rather than simply the presence of a stick in the incident, determines the call. See slashing, hooking and tripping for the related distinctions.
Rule 54.2 allows a player to protect themself against an opponent's stick, but requires immediate release so the opponent can resume normal play. This explains why a momentary protective action can be legal while continuing to grip the same stick is a penalty.
For example, a player wards off a stick coming towards the body and immediately lets it go. That can fall within the protective allowance. Keeping hold while turning away with the puck does not: the player is now preventing normal use of the stick.
The rule gives no fixed number of seconds in which a grab is safe. A quick grab intended to prevent a shot is not automatically protected just because it is brief. Equally, an opponent's earlier foul does not grant permission to keep their stick trapped.
Rule 54.2 prescribes a minor for both offences; Rule 16.1 makes that two minutes. Rule 54 does not contain its own major-penalty or automatic injury-upgrade provision. If an incident includes a different offence, that action must be judged under the relevant rule.
In a normal five-on-five situation with one unmatched holding minor against a skater, the offending team plays with four skaters against five. Under Rule 16.2, an opposition power-play goal can end the minor early. Matching penalties and multiple penalties can change the manpower and release sequence; see power plays and penalty kills.
Under Rule 15.1, the referee whistles immediately if the offending team controls the puck. Otherwise, the referee raises an arm for a delayed penalty and stops play when that team gains control. Continued play does not necessarily mean the hold was ignored. See penalties and delayed calls for goal-scoring and other timing cases.
These examples illustrate the IIHF 2026/27 tests; they are not quotations from official casebook decisions. The referee must judge the actual contact and restraint in each play.
Yes. Rule 54.3 refers to Rule 24.8. For the usual foul-from-behind case, the attacker must be beyond their own blue line, have possession and control or clearly be about to obtain them, have no opponent between them and the goalkeeper, and lose a reasonable scoring opportunity because of the foul from behind. Rule 24.8 separately allows a goalkeeper's foul from the front on a breakaway.
A hold does not automatically qualify just because the player was attacking. If the player recovers a reasonable scoring opportunity, or a teammate gains one, no penalty shot should be awarded; the appropriate penalty is assessed if no goal results. Getting a shot away is not conclusive either if the foul denied a better, reasonable opportunity.
Rule 54.4 points to Rule 25 for awarded goals. With the goalkeeper removed, a hold that prevents scoring can produce an awarded goal when Rule 25.1's conditions are met: possession and control, or prospective possession and control, in the neutral or attacking zone with no defender between attacker and goal. Read penalty-shot rules for the full procedure and how the remedy affects penalty time.
In IIHF Appendix I, the holding signal is one hand clasping the other wrist in front of the chest. Holding the stick uses two stages: the holding signal followed by a gesture showing a normal two-handed stick grip.
The second gesture identifies what was held. It does not mean that holding the stick is a longer penalty than holding the player; both are minors under Rule 54.2. The referee's announcement helps distinguish the offences. See officials and referee signals for more signals.
Checked on 20 September 2026. Apply the rulebook edition and event regulations appointed for the particular competition.