Rule 3—Time Factors and Scoring

Mercy Rule

The mercy rule in stop-time games is that once the game reaches the second half and the goal differential reaches 12 goals, the game switches to a running clock. The clock does not stop on the goal that takes the lead to 12, but it would stop if the trailing team scored to bring the goal differential down to 11.

Penalty time is not adjusted during the running clock (a 1:00 penalty is still 1:00, and penalties do not become stop time), but penalties do not start until the whistle blows to restart play after the penalty is assessed.