Column by column
- Write the period. Put the period the penalty was called in, even if its time runs into the next period.
- Write the number. Write the penalized player's number, or leave it blank for a bench minor, which belongs to the team.
- Write who serves. Fill Served by only when someone else sits the time: a bench minor, a goaltender's penalty, a major with a game misconduct, a minor with a misconduct, or extra time in a coincidental set.
- Write the offence code. Use the short code your league uses, such as TRIP, HOOK or HS, exactly as the referee reported the offence.
- Write the minutes. Write the length: 2 for a minor, 4 for a double minor, 5 for a major, 10 for a misconduct or game misconduct, or the pro-rated length your rules use.
- Write the time off. Write the game clock at the stoppage when the penalty was called.
- Write the start and end. Write when the penalty time began and when it ended; for a stacked penalty the start is when a slot freed, and a goal can make the end earlier.
Official game sheets differ between leagues and apps, and many rinks now use an electronic sheet. Rinkclock draws its own sheet with the fields the rulebooks ask for: USA Hockey Rule 507(a) has the penalty timekeeper record each player penalized, the infraction, the length and the time it was assessed, and Canadian Rule 5.6(c) asks the official scorer for the same record. Start and End are the working columns a timekeeper uses to run the clock and check the release.
A worked example
- P1 17:40 Penalty: Home #7, high-sticking (HS), double minor
- P1 15:10 Penalty: Away bench, too many players (TMM), bench minor, served by #19
- P1 14:00 Penalty: Home #3, illegal check (CHK), major, served by #14
- P1 12:30 Penalty: Away #5, unsportsmanlike conduct (UNS), minor and a misconduct, served by #18
- P1 11:00 Goal: Away
What the sheet and the door should show
a double minor, a bench minor, a major and a minor plus misconduct
| Team | P | # | Served by | Offence | Min | Off | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 1 | 7 | HS double minor | 4 | 17:40 | P1 17:40 | P1 13:40 | |
| Away | 1 | 19 | TMM bench minor | 2 | 15:10 | P1 15:10 | P1 13:10 | |
| Home | 1 | 3 | 14 | CHK major | 5 | 14:00 | P1 14:00 | P1 9:00 |
| Home | 1 | 3 | CHK game misconduct | 10 | 14:00 | |||
| Away | 1 | 5 | 18 | UNS minor | 2 | 12:30 | P1 12:30 | P1 10:30 |
| Away | 1 | 5 | UNS misconduct | 10 | 12:30 | P1 10:30 | P1 0:30 |
Box door
- Home #7 at P1 13:40 (time expired)
- Away #19 at P1 13:10 (time expired)
- Away #18 at P1 10:30 (time expired)
- Home #14 at P1 9:00 (time expired)
Read the rows the way a referee would check them. The double minor is one row of 4 minutes. The bench minor has no player number and 19 under Served by. The major has 14 under Served by because, under the Canadian rules, a major brings a game misconduct (Rule 4.4) and the player is gone; the game misconduct is its own row with 10 minutes and no start or end. The minor plus misconduct is two rows: a substitute, 18, sits the minor, and the misconduct starts when the minor ends (Rule 4.7(b)). The goal at 11:00 ended nothing, because home and away were each one short at that moment.
Time-outs and the rest of the sheet
Record each team's time-out with the period and the clock. The Canadian rulebook allows one 30 second time-out per team (Rule 6.17(e)); the USA rulebook one of 60 seconds (Rule 636(f)). Goals and assists, line-ups and signatures belong to the official scorer's part of the sheet and vary more by league; Rinkclock grades the penalty record and time-outs only.
Common mistakes
- Leaving coincidental penalties off the sheet because they are not on the clock.
- Writing the penalized player in Served by, or leaving Served by blank when someone else sat the time.
- Writing a major with a game misconduct as one row, or giving the game misconduct a start and end.
- Writing the call time as the start of a stacked penalty.
- Leaving the End as expiry when a power play goal ended the minor early.
- Dropping the period from an end time that falls in the next period.
The penalty code sheet lists the offence codes, and the free daily period gives you a sheet to fill and marks every cell.
Sources
Checked against these sources on 27 September 2026. Rules are paraphrased with their numbers, never quoted at length. Leagues and associations add their own rules; where yours differ, follow them.
- Hockey Canada Playing Rules 2026-2028. PDF from the Hockey Canada officiating downloads page. Sections 4 (types of penalties), 5 (officials, including Rules 5.5 penalty timekeeper and 5.7 game timekeeper) and 6.17 (time of game and time-outs). Read 27 September 2026.
- USA Hockey Official Rules of Ice Hockey 2025-29. PDF from the USA Hockey rules and resources page. Rules 401 to 409 (penalties), 506 (game timekeeper), 507 (penalty timekeeper) and 636 (time of game and time-outs). Read 27 September 2026.