Sin Bin Check-in
In this week's analytics feature, we look into what's getting called, who it's getting called on and how often it's getting called
This week, we’re looking at penalties called during the season up to this point. We’ll look at what’s being called the most, when things are being called, and which teams and players are the biggest offenders.
What’s Getting Called
There have been 3519 penalties called as of December 5th, 2024. Let’s break them down:
1553 (44.13%) were Restraining Fouls—Holding, Holding the Stick, Hooking, Interference, and Tripping.
879 (24.97%) were Physical Fouls—Boarding, Body checking, Charging, Charging the Goalie, Clipping, Contact to the Head, Elbowing, Excessive roughness, Fighting, Grabbing Facemask, Hitting After the Whistle, Hitting From Behind, Kicking, Kneeing, Roughing, Slew footing, and Throwing Equipment.
674 (19.15%) were Stick Fouls—Butt-ending, Cross-Checking, High-sticking, Slashing, and Spearing.
310 (8.81%) were Other Fouls—Bench Minor, Broken stick, Delay of Game, Diving, Embellishment, Faceoff Violation, Goaltender Interference, Handling the Puck, Illegal Equipment, Misconduct, Shot After the Whistle, Too Many Players, Unsportsmanlike Conduct.
103 (2.92%) are what we’re going to call Additional Fouls—Game Disqualification, Game Misconduct—fouls that are called in addition to another penalty.
Below is a count of all the penalties called as of 12/5/2024. Tripping and Roughing are at the top of the heap, with 576 and 417 called, respectively. Slashing (286) and Too Many Players (100) round out the tops of each category.
Interesting to note, Embellishment was called 29 times, but Diving was only called twice—once against Quinnipiac on October 18th and once against New Hampshire on November 2nd, both games refereed by Hockey East refs. Embellishment, as described in the NCAA Ice Hockey Rule Book, is called in conjunction with an opponent’s penalty, while Diving is a standalone foul.
Conference Breakdown
Let’s take a look at roughly how many penalties are called by each conference’s refs. To do this we’ll assume that the conference of the home team are the refs for the game, we will also exclude independents from this analysis.
Hockey East (8.26 Penalties Called Per Game)
In Hockey East games (81 games), 669 penalties were called for 1703 minutes of penalties. This comes out to 8.26 penalties per game at a Hockey East rink. Hockey East has 20 more Slashing calls than any other conference, with 70. The conference is second in Embellishment calls with 9—second to Atlantic Hockey America, 12—but both Diving calls, so far this season, have occurred in Hockey East games.
NCHC (8.09 Pen/Game)
The NCHC refs (64 games) have called 1284 minutes of penalties (518 penalties), for an 8.09 penalties per game average. 85 roughing penalties have been called in NCHC games, the most among the conferences. Additionally, 66% of slew footing calls have been called in the conference (4/6).
CCHA (7.91 Pen/Game)
In 67 CCHA games, 530 penalties have been called for 1285 minutes, an average of 7.91 penalties called per game. The CCHA have the most Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties called in their games with 23. They also have joint most Too Many Player calls at 21, tied with Hockey East, however the AHA and ECAC are not far behind with 20.
ECAC (7.88 Pen/Game)
69 ECAC games have resulted in 544 penalties for 1319 minutes—7.88 penalty calls per game. The ECAC has accounted for 67 hooking calls, 7 faceoff violations (no other conference has more than 3), and is one of only two conferences (AHA) to call a Hitting After the Whistle penalty (10). The conference is the site of the only Butt-ending, Clipping, Fighting, and Kicking penalties so far this season.
AHA (7.81 Pen/Game)
AHA games have seen 672 penalties in 86 games, (1655 penalty minutes), an average of 7.81 penalties called per game, the most total penalties called of any conference. The AHA has recorded 15 more Interference calls than any other conference (76), and 11 more Hitting From Behind calls (31) than any other conference.
Big Ten (7.21 Pen/Game)
The Big Ten has the least penalties called 375 in 52 games for 915 penalty minutes along with the lowest average penalties called per game with 7.21. The Big Ten is the only conference with multiple Game Disqualifications called (2), the ECAC is the only other conference with any.
Period Breakdown
The 2nd Period sees the most penalties (1361), followed by the 3rd (1139), and finally the 1st (1000). Only 19 overtime penalties have been called.
There seems to be no correlation to Too Many Player penalties, with each period roughly seeing about 36 (37, 39, 34).
Cross-checking sees an uptick in the 2nd (104) compared to the 1st (85) and the 3rd (87). Slashing also sees a big uptick in the with 47 more in the second (127) than either the 1st (80), 3rd (77) or overtime.
Team Breakdown
Augustana leads all NCAA teams with the most Tripping calls called on them, with 21—the greatest number of instances of the same penalty called on the same team. Below is a table shows the team that has committed the most of each penalty.
4 teams (Clarkson, St. Thomas, Stonehill, and Holy Cross) have had 20+ different penalties called against them, with Clarkson leading the NCAA with 21. Clarkson has received penalties this season for: Boarding, Charging the Goalie, Cross-Checking, Delay of Game, Elbowing, Embellishment, Fighting, Game Misconduct, Goaltender Interference, Grabbing Facemask, High-sticking, Hitting After the Whistle, Hitting From Behind, Holding, Holding the Stick, Hooking, Interference, Roughing, Slashing, Too Many Players, and Tripping.
RIT leads the way in Restraining Fouls (44) and Physical Fouls (30). St. Thomas has the most Stick Fouls (22), while Lake Superior State as the most “Other Fouls” with 13.
Player Breakdown
Felix Caron of RPI and Dominick Campione of Stonehill each have been called for 9 different penalties. Caron has been called for: Boarding, Tripping, Hooking, Cross-Checking, Interference, Contact to the Head, Game Misconduct, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, Misconduct. Campione has been called for: Boarding, Body checking, Cross-Checking, Hitting From Behind, Interference, Delay of Game, Roughing, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, and Tripping.