The equipment walk during warm-ups

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Craft note: practice advice, not a rule.

Warm-ups are the cheapest time to fix equipment. A slow lap with your eyes on the players finds most problems before they cost anyone a penalty.

Look for missing neck guards below Adult (304(g), p. 48), helmet cameras, microphones or lights (308, p. 50) and missing mouthpieces where they are required (304(f)). Tell the coach, not the player, and let the team fix it before the opening face-off.

If a coach later asks you to check an opponent's equipment, remember that a wrong request now costs a bench minor, mouthpieces included (307, p. 50).

Rules mentioned: 304(g), 308, 304(f), 307, USA Hockey 2025-29 Official Rules and Casebook of Ice Hockey. The rulebook (PDF)