Off-setting Minors

Off-setting minors are also called coincidental minors, referring to minor penalties that offset one another. Such a penalty may arise when both teams are assessed a minor penalty at the same time, usually resulting from something that happened in the same play.

When minor penalties are assessed to both teams at the same time, the players who committed the infractions on each team are sent to the penalty boxes. Each team plays short-handed, or with four players on each team, until the minor penalties expire, then they return to playing five-on-five hockey. If a goal is scored by either team during the off-setting minor penalties, the player on the opposing team does not get to leave the penalty box as he would if it were a normal minor penalty. Instead, both players must stay in the penalty boxes until the full time expires on their penalty. They both may return to the ice during the first stoppage in play following the expiration of their penalty time.