Slashing, hooking, and tripping penalties, explained.

What these penalties cover

Slashing is a stick foul. It generally means swinging, chopping, or forcefully striking with the stick at an opponent, the opponent's stick, or the opponent's hands or body. A light stick check aimed at the puck is part of normal hockey, but a forceful slash, especially to the hands, wrists, legs, or an unprotected area, is not.

Hooking means using the stick like a hook to restrain, tug, turn, slow, or otherwise impede an opponent. It can happen around the hands, arms, waist, torso, legs, or stick, and it does not always require a dramatic fall.

Tripping means causing an opponent to fall, stumble, or lose skating balance by using the stick, leg, foot, arm, hand, or body in an illegal way. The key question is whether the defender's action took away the opponent's skating lane or feet rather than simply playing the puck legally.

These fouls are not only against puck carriers

Most slashing, hooking, and tripping calls happen during puck battles, forechecks, backchecks, net-front plays, and races through the neutral zone. They can also happen away from the puck if a player uses the stick or body to slow a route, stop a player from joining the play, or retaliate after contact.

The same basic standards apply whether the opponent is a forward, defender, or goalkeeper. Rulebooks may have special penalty-shot, injury, or goalkeeper-protection consequences in certain situations, but the starting point is still the act: chopping, restraining, or knocking a player off balance illegally.

When a stick check becomes a slash

A clean stick check is usually directed at the puck or the blade of the opponent's stick. A slash is different because the stick is used with a chopping or striking motion, or with force that is not necessary to play the puck.

Officials look closely at slashes to the hands because hockey players use their gloves and wrists to control the puck and protect themselves. A defender may try to disrupt a shot or pass, but repeated chops at the hands, a two-handed swing, a retaliatory whack, or a stick swing after the puck is gone can quickly become a penalty. More violent slashes or slashes that injure an opponent can be escalated under the active rulebook.

How hooking is different from reaching

Reaching with the stick is not automatically illegal. A defender can poke at the puck, angle the puck carrier, lift a stick, or use legal body position. Hooking starts when the stick is used to latch onto, pull, steer, or brake the opponent.

The foul is often subtle. A stick around the hands can stop a shot. A blade under the arm can turn a player's shoulders. A shaft across the waist can slow a stride. A quick tug from behind can be enough to erase separation even if the opponent stays on their skates. Officials are usually judging the effect on movement, not just whether the crowd saw a big collision.

What makes a trip illegal

Tripping is not limited to sticking a blade between someone's skates. It can be a sweep with the stick, a leg placed in the skating lane, a knee or foot that clips the opponent, or body contact that takes the opponent's legs out instead of making a legal check.

A player falling does not prove a trip by itself. Skaters lose edges, step on sticks, collide incidentally, or fall while trying to avoid contact. Officials look for the action that caused the fall: whether the defender created the obstruction, whether the stick or leg was placed into the opponent's path, and whether the play was a legitimate attempt to play the puck within that rulebook's standard.

How officials read the play

1. Identify the first illegal action: chop, tug, wrap, sweep, leg contact, or legal puck pressure.
2. Judge whether the opponent's hands, body, stick, or feet were affected enough to create an unfair advantage or safety issue.
3. Separate a legal stick play from a restraining foul, especially on poke checks, stick lifts, and battles along the boards.
4. Decide whether the foul denied a scoring chance, caused injury, was retaliatory, or involved excessive force.
5. Apply the competition's penalty level, delayed-call procedure, face-off location, and any penalty-shot or misconduct consequence.

Legal plays that can look similar

• Stick-on-puck contact: a clean poke check or sweep that plays the puck without taking away the opponent's feet may be legal, subject to the rulebook being used.
• Stick lift: lifting or checking an opponent's stick can be legal when it targets the stick and does not slash the hands or hook the body.
• Body position: skating an opponent off a lane is different from using a stick, leg, or free hand to restrain them.
• Incidental contact: contact that occurs because both players are battling for the puck may be allowed if neither player creates an illegal trip, hook, or slash.
• Lost edge: a player who falls without an opponent's illegal action usually does not create a tripping penalty just because there was nearby pressure.

Minor, major, and penalty-shot situations

In many hockey rulebooks, ordinary slashing, hooking, and tripping fouls are handled as minor penalties. That is why these calls often lead to a standard power play and can be enforced through a delayed penalty if the non-offending team keeps possession.

The penalty can become more serious when the act is violent, reckless, causes injury, or fits a rulebook's automatic escalation language. A slash delivered as a weapon, a hook that dangerously pulls a player into the boards, or a trip that creates a high-risk crash may be treated differently from an ordinary restraining foul.

If a player is fouled from behind or illegally impeded on a clear scoring chance, the result may be a penalty shot or, in some empty-net situations, an awarded goal. Exact tests vary by code, so the official must apply the competition's rulebook to the speed, position, possession, and scoring opportunity.

Where viewers get confused

• "He got the puck first, so it cannot be tripping": getting puck contact matters, but it does not automatically excuse taking out the opponent's legs in every rulebook or every fact pattern.
• "The player stayed upright, so it cannot be hooking": hooking can be called when the stick clearly restrains or slows the opponent, even without a fall.
• "Hands are part of the stick": officials commonly treat chops to the hands or gloves as slashing because the hands are part of the player, not free targets.
• "A small slash should never be called": small stick fouls can still erase a scoring chance, prevent a shot, or start dangerous retaliation.
• "Every fall near a stick is tripping": officials still need an illegal action that caused the fall or loss of balance.

Practical examples

• Usually slashing: a defender chops down on a shooter's top hand after the puck has moved away.
• Usually hooking: a backchecker reaches around the puck carrier's waist and tugs the stick shaft to slow the rush.
• Usually tripping: a defender misses a poke check and leaves the stick across the attacker's skates, causing the attacker to fall.
• Usually legal: a defender angles the puck carrier wide and cleanly pokes the puck off the blade without contacting the skates or hands.
• Possible penalty shot: a player with a clear path to goal is hooked or tripped from behind before getting a reasonable scoring attempt.

Source material

• IIHF Rules, Regulations & Guidelines
• NHL Video Rulebook
• NCAA Ice Hockey Rules of the Game
• USA Hockey Officiating Rulebook Mobile Site