3rd Period · Lesson 10 of 12 · Rink Pass
The safety calls
Hits from behind, contact to the head, boarding, and why fights end games.
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1/3 A home player is facing the boards, digging for the puck. A visitor comes in from behind.
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2/3 A check from behind into the boards is never a minor: it is a major plus a misconduct, or a game disqualification if it is flagrant.
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3/3 In open ice, any contact to the head or neck is a foul. If the hit starts at the head, it can only be a major or a game disqualification.
High-school rules protect heads and backs hard. Any contact to an opponent's head or neck, from any direction, with a body or a stick, is a foul. If the force starts lower and rides up (indirect), it can be a minor. If the first contact is the head or neck (direct), the only choices are a major or a game disqualification.
Checking from behind in open ice is a major. Into the boards or the goal frame it is a major plus a misconduct, or a GD if flagrant. The book puts the duty on the player coming in from behind.
Boarding changed for 2026-27: the NFHS took the word "violently" out of the rule, and its release says a lesser boarding can now be a minor, while violent boarding stays a major. Your state may publish its own guidance.
Fighting, and joining a fight already going, is always a game disqualification, which also means sitting out the next game. Leaving the bench during an altercation is a GD as well. Slurs and spitting are GDs too.