Go ahead and bat it down. Knock it out of the air. This season, it’s legal.
The PWHL announced its rule changes for the 2026-27 season on Thursday, headlined by a radical rewrite of Rule 82: high-sticking the puck is no longer an infraction at all. Where the old rulebook stopped play when a puck batted above the shoulders was touched by the offending team – and disallowed any goal that came off a stick above the crossbar – the new Rule 82.1 states flatly that “batting the puck above the normal height of the shoulders with a stick is permitted.”
Play now continues regardless of which team gains possession, with the referee giving the washout signal instead of a whistle. The lacrosse-style cradle – carrying the puck on the blade above the shoulders – is expressly permitted as well, except on penalty shots and shootout attempts, in which case it’ll draw an immediate whistle.
In open play, though, a goal off a high stick counts – the only exception is when the play also involves high-sticking an opponent, which remains a penalty under Rule 61.1.
The league also formalized two other big changes, along with some smaller ones that missed the cut on the league’s announcement. Don’t worry – we’ve got ’em.
Other Announced Changes
- Neck protection is mandatory (Rule 9.10). Last year’s book merely “strongly recommended” it. This year’s requires cut-resistant neck protection – minimum A4-rated, A5 preferred – for all players including goaltenders, in games and warm-ups, with no modifications permitted. Unlike the NHL’s recent neck-guard requirement, this one isn’t being phased in – it applies to all players, effective immediately. And it has teeth: a violation costs the team a bench minor and the player a 10-minute misconduct, with repeat violations drawing supplementary discipline.
- Body checking gets a new test (Rule 52). The PWHL remains the only women’s league with legal body checking, and their rule has been rewritten into clear permissible/illegal categories. An illegal check is now defined as a blindside check on a defenseless opponent, launching into a hit, extending or driving an arm, leaving the feet, or deliberately stepping or skating in with excessive force – replacing the old “opposite-directional force” language. Just as significant: under Rule 52.5, a body-checking major no longer carries an automatic game misconduct. The game misconduct now attaches only when the check causes an injury.
Preseason Pilot
Hockey fans have often asked – would you rather have a penalty shot or a power play? In the PWHL preseason, they’re going to leave that up to the coaches in certain situations.
The league is using its 12 preseason scrimmages to test an overtime twist: when a minor penalty is assessed in OT, the non-offending team can decline the 4-on-3 power play and take a penalty shot instead – with any eligible player in the lineup allowed to take it.
Every scrimmage will play a 3-on-3 overtime followed by a shootout, regardless of the score. It’s a preseason-only trial for now. We’ll wait to see how it plays out.
Other Changes… Not Announced
- Major penalties can now be rescinded (Rule 20.6). On-ice officials reviewing a major this season have three options: confirm it, reduce it, or wipe it out entirely. Last year’s book offered only confirm or reduce.
- Ripping off an opponent’s helmet is now a major (Rules 9.6 / 51). Intentionally removing an opponent’s helmet joins biting, hair-pulling, and grabbing facial protection as a major roughing offense – up from a minor last season. Rule 51 also adds a new minor: the head lock is now expressly a roughing minor.
- Head checks now count toward suspensions (Rules 23.5 / 23.6). The Physical accumulation category – where three game misconducts trigger automatic suspensions – now includes Illegal Check to the Head (Rule 48) and Roughing (Rule 51) game misconducts. At the same time, the clean streak needed to wipe a player’s strikes rises from 12 consecutive games to 15.
- Automatic suspensions got shorter (Rules 72.4 / 72.10). Leaving the penalty bench to challenge a referee’s ruling drops from a three-game suspension to one game. Being the second player off a bench during an altercation drops from three games to two, and leaving the penalty bench during an altercation drops from five games to two. The first player off the bench in an altercation still draws four games.
- Elbowing no longer requires intent (Rule 45.1). The definition previously required an extended elbow “with an intent to foul or cause injury.” The new text covers an extended elbow “in a manner that may or may not cause injury” – the intent element is gone, which should make the call simpler and, likely, more frequent.
- A missed stoppage can now become a penalty (Rule 38.7). If a Situation Room review of a missed stoppage wipes out a goal, and the missed infraction would have been a penalty shot had it been called, officials will now assess a minor or major penalty instead. Note that these are all Situation Room reviews. The PWHL still has no coach’s challenge; Rule 38.2 expressly bars teams from requesting reviews.
The Fine Print Changes
Smaller details that were tweaked from last season.
- Shootout relief goalies can warm up (Rule 86.4). A goaltender who replaces a starter removed for medical evaluation or injury during a shootout may now take a brief warm-up; last year’s book barred it outright.
- Off-side is now about the trailing skate (Rule 85.1). The puck-carrier exception has been clarified around the trailing skate with a new requirement that the carrier maintain control.
- The trapezoid penalty is gone (Rules 65.2 / 1.8). This one is mostly a cleanup, since the PWHL never enforced the trapezoid; the leftover delay-of-game minor for it has been deleted.
- Jersey nameplates and numbers (Rule 9.2). Written Hockey Operations approval is now required before production for any exceptions on nameplates or numbers, presumably including diacritical characters or accents.
- Housekeeping: The “referee’s crease” is now the “official’s crease,” and last year’s signals list – which literally printed the body-checking signal as “TBD” – has been cleaned up.
What Didn’t Change
The league’s signature structures are untouched: the 3-2-1 points system, five-minute 3-on-3 overtime, hybrid icing, and the fighting and embellishment rules all carry over as-is. Goaltender-interference standards are unchanged too.
Brush up on these changes before the puck drops on the PWHL’s 2026-27 season on Saturday, December 5.
Oh, and get to know the PWHL officials that will be tasked with enforcing these rules:
