A few skaters at my home league have been wanting some clarification on No Pass/No Penalty. When explaining NP/NP in person there’s usually some detail left out.
To fill in the gaps in knowledge for both myself and for skaters new to the concept of NP/NP, I’ve taken some time to write this blog post explaining the basics.
NP/NP is most relevant to jammers, so I’ll be using blocker/jammer language in this post. This is a simplified interpretation of the rules and only describes common scenarios that are most relevant from a skater’s perspective.
To start, let’s remind ourselves how a jammer scores points. Quoting the rules, a jammer scores points when they “pass the opponents’ hips while in bounds and upright, legally, while wearing the Jammer helmet cover with the stars visible, without committing penalties.” [7.1.3.1]
Below are a few very simplistic examples of how a jammer could pass a blocker:
Both skaters are in bounds and upright, and the jammer does not incur a penalty. The jammer scores the point.
The blocker is out of play or down, and the jammer passes legally. The jammer scores the point.
Both skaters are in bounds and upright, and the jammer commits a penalty. The jammer does not score the point and reports to the penalty box.
The jammer, while out of bounds, passes a blocker who is out of bounds, down, or out of play. No Pass/No Penalty.
Note: There are other ways NP/NP can be issued, but this is the most common.
There are a number of situations where passing out of bounds can occur. The most likely are:
A jammer, while out of bounds, returns to the track in front of a downed blocker.
A jammer, while out of bounds, returns to the track in front of an out of bounds blocker.
A jammer, who was knocked out of bounds by a blocker who also went out of bounds, returns to the track in front of that blocker before the blocker returns to the track.
A blocker blocks the jammer out of bounds at the front of the engagement zone and is then called out of play. The jammer returns to the track in front of the out of play blocker.
A blocker blocks the jammer out of bounds and recycles them to the back of the pack and is called out of play. The jammer returns to the track in front of the out of play blocker.
In all these situations, the pass occurred where the involved skaters have given up or lost their superior position, for example by being out of bounds, or out of play.
If the blocker were in bounds and in play in those examples, you might expect to hear a cutting penalty called on the jammer. As such, it might be useful to think of NP/NP being issued when you cut a skater but it doesn’t warrant a penalty.
There are other situations where NP/NP can be signalled, for example if the jammer is not wearing the helmet cover, the stars are not visible, or the helmet cover has been passed over skaters.
If the jammer is on their initial pass and they do not legally pass every blocker before leaving the engagement zone (including blockers they’ve previously passed but find themselves behind again), they will be issued ‘not lead jammer’ status, even if they are first out of the engagement zone.
Jammers are able to score a point on blockers they previously got NP/NP on if they recycle behind that blocker and pass them legally, satisfying rule 7.1.3.1.
Jammers may also get signalled NP/NP on blockers they have already passed and scored a point on if they find themselves behind that skater, but fail to satisfy 7.1.3.1 when passed again.
Below are some screenshots from the URDUMB application that outlines a common NP/NP situation - a jammer passing a blocker while they’re both out of bounds.
Purple blocker is in front of yellow jammer and has not yet lost her point.
Purple blocker initiates a legal block which causes both skaters to leave the track.
Yellow jammer returns to the track before and in front of purple blocker. Since the pass occurred out of bounds legally, NP/NP is signalled.
Feel free to get in touch if you’ve found this post helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.
